2018 Qupé Santa Barbara County Roussanne

Rich and complex with floral aromas and flavors of peaches, pears, honey, nuts and hay along with mineral notes. It is rich, but still light on its feet with balanced acidity and a long succulent finish. This wine is ready to enjoy upon release, and will continue to age beautifully for another 10-15 years.

The grapes were whole cluster pressed, the juice chilled overnight, and then pumped directly to barrel the next day. With Roussanne we go into the barrel "dirty", or with lots of the juice lees to add texture and complexity to the wine.

The wine went through complete malolactic in the barrel, aged on the lees, in the one year old barrels for the first 12 months. It was then racked and clarified through fining and returned to neutral barrels for another 6 months (so total time in barrel was 18 months).