This bottling marks the 30th vintage of
Cuvée 128 Sauvignon Blanc produced from grapes grown in vineyards located along Highway 128 which connects Cloverdale to the chilly Mendocino coast. In 2004, our friends Bill and Nancy Charles—proprietors of
Foursight Vineyards—had a field of unsold grapes located directly across the highway from land that our family owns in Boonville. After making wine from their Sauvignon Blanc grapes over several vintages, we realized the quality was so good that we decided to plant our own Sauvignon Blanc vineyards across the street at what is now named
Pennyroyal Farm.
A gallon of organic apple juice typically has solids which visibly settle to the bottom of the container. A similar situation occurs when we destem and press grapes; the raw juice has a lot of solids so we let them settle in a refrigerated stainless steel tank. Three days later we rack off the clear juice and then we filter the juicy solids using a lees-press filled with diatomaceous earth as Jacob is doing here.
About 60% of the juicy solids are recovered as clear juice and can be reunited with the original lot.