I’m fascinated with this wine not solely as a result of Megan Hughes has properly crafted a “chardonnay within the uncooked” but additionally as a result of it provides us a glimpse into what glowing wines had been like centuries in the past. Then, grapes had been simply pressed, left to ferment, and bottled. Only a few steps. The result’s a splendidly bubbly wine…below a crown cap. The wine is delicate, lemony, and fairly yeasty.
Hughes, daughter of the Barnard Griffin founders, chooses an “encapsulated yeast” for this sparkler’s in-bottle, secondary fermentation, and it actually works. Strictly talking, winemakers again within the day didn’t have yeasts to select from; they merely waited for the pure yeasts on the grapes to start out the fermentation course of after urgent. Nonetheless, that is presumably the very best of each worlds: then and now. 13% alcohol
Pairing: Greatest served by itself, as an aperitif wine.
WHERE: Yakima Valley AVA, Washington State
WHAT: 100% chardonnay
HOW MUCH: round $40 (media pattern)
RATING: 91
