Clos Saron "Carte Blanche" 2020, North Yuba, Sierra Foothills, CA

A beautiful glowing gold color, this orange wine is bright, zesty, and full of citrus and roses on the nose, with tangerine pith and grapefruit on the palate.

COUNTRY: USA

STATE: California

APPELLATION (AVA): Lodi

VINEYARD: Markus Brockish’s Vineyard

VINTAGE: 2020

GRAPES: Roughly 50% Albariño and 50% Verdelho with a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc

PRACTICE: Organic, sustainable

SOIL: Deep, alluvial soils rich of ferrous, granitic sand

VINIFICATION: Whole clusters of both varieties were very thoroughly foot crushed together in harvest bins to avoid any whole-berry, enzymatic fermentation. After 4 days of maceration, the wine was pressed into neutral barrels for aging on gross lees.

STYLE: Still

COLOR: Light gold, cloudy

BODY: Medium body

TASTE: Dry

PRIMARY AROMAS: Tangerine, grapefruit, roses

FLAVOR: Bright, tart but creamy, citrus pith

FORMAT: 750 ml

ALCOHOL: 12%

SERVICE AND FOOD PAIRING SUGGESTION: Serve slightly chilled, but not too cold. Pair with poached grouper with a white wine reduction and a white curry, and finish with pink grapefruit juice.

ABOUT THE PRODUCER: Clos Saron

“It all started with a half-acre of Cab Sauv, planted in the “wrong” place. Early in 1995, Gideon Beinstock and his wife Saron were asked by their friend Leonard if they wanted to take over his small (0.5 acre) vineyard and make some wine for themselves. Gideon asked if Leonard would let them experiment with grafting it over to P. Noir. He said yes, and Saron proceeded to graft these 400 vines to P. Noir; they also doubled the vineyard density by “own-rooting” a P. Noir vine between every two grafted ones. This is how their “Old Block” came to be. Three years later Leonard sold them this piece of land and Clos Saron was born. 100% foot-stomped, whole cluster.” (clossaron.com)

ABOUT THE VINEYARD: “Although Lodi is usually associated with overcropped bulk wine, this vineyard is located in Galt in the northwest where rolling, alluvial hills and decomposed granite give the area a feel closer to the Sierra Foothills in personality. Grown right next a block of pre-prohibition Carignane Clos Saron formerly used for ‘Pleasant Peasant,’ the rows of Albarino and Verdelho benefit from sandy granitic soils that allowed for the vines to be planted without grafting.” (Olmstead Wine)