Maloof Wines
‘L’Eau Epicée’ 2019
Sparkling White
50% Riesling, 30% Gewürztraminer, 20% skin-contact Gewürztraminer
Willamette Valley, Forest Grove, Oregon
Minimal Intervention, native yeast, organic
Winemakers: Bee & Ross Maloof (wife & husband)
Hazy effervescent gold with a bit of that contact orange. Sniffing and there’s floral bursts which turn to orange blossoms, orange and Orangina, some salt, a spiciness like coriander, and possibly a little grass. Tasting and yep, it’s orange, tangerine, and Orangina. It’s fizzy, crisp, and dry with salt and blossoms again and a warm spice that’s a little peppery at the end
Pairs with Cheez-It’s: mmmm more crisp and vibrant and lemony
From what I’m reading about how the 2019, came about, I find it best to just quote Ross Maloof’s own words on David Bowler Wine’s site to get all the juicy details.
“From Ross: This one is a little bit of a doozy. We pressed the riesling and the gewurz separately, to ferment in neutral oak. A little under half of the Gewurz was fermented in open bins on the skins until dry, then pressed off into barrels. From there we essentially made still wine out of all of these lots. When we pressed the riesling, we took a bunch of the must and put into 5gallon buckets and threw them in our chest freezer. Just after the primary fermentation of the Riesling was through, we racked the wine(s) into tank. From here, we thawed out a particular amount of the frozen must we held back at crush, threw it in the tank, stirred it all up real good, and bottled in the middle of the winter to lay down in tirage bins. Come spring and boom, bubbles! We think this is most similar to an ancestral method, hence the back of the bottle stating “Ancestral?” Since then, we’ve adopted a portmanteau of Champenoise, Ancestral, and Petnat… Ancestropetnoise.”
I think Ancestropetnoise is going to catch on!
@vinewinenyc @maloofwines @bowlerwine @cheezits #cheezit #wine #sparklingwine #champenoise #Ancestral #petnat #pétnat #organic @worldbyglass #worldbyglass #needmorewine #pairswithcheezits #Riesling #Gewürztraminer #WillametteValley #ForestGrove #Oregon #MaloofWines