News

Newsletter - January 2017

1/14/2017 staff

Welcome!

We appreciate your patronage and hope to keep you up to date on the latest news from the vineyard and the tasting room, (with an occasional bite from Alan's musical efforts).

From Sandra's Desk:

Yay!!! It's January 2017, a brand-new year, and this means that we can once again look to the future, make new resolutions and in general begin to let go of the past. Of course, wine IS the past and every wine lover understands and appreciates this fact. Actually, it is THE great thing about wine, being able to experience the past in one sip of a great wine. But when you have a year like 2016, that will forever be known for the huge swings in the vineyard and in our family's lives, you tend to redirect your thoughts to "better days". Several years ago, we planted a new vineyard on the top of a hill with fantastic soil, and great southern exposures. In this special ground, we placed cabernet sauvignon, merlot, moscato, cabernet franc, petite verdot and a few more rows of our beloved chardonnay and pinot noir. This will be the first year that we will see actual fruit. We are all very excited about this new venture and although we depend on our original vineyards for the wonderful wines we are known for, we cannot wait to share these new varietals with you in the future.

So here is to the New Year, to our new varietals and of course, to new beginnings!

Welcome 2017! Nice to meet you!

Salute! Sandra

From The Winemaker:

Happy New Year! 2017 is starting beautifully! Rain is falling. The rivers, creeks, and reservoirs are filling. Let's hope the rain keeps coming.

The vineyard is currently solidly dormant (it's been a cold winter so far, with many nights below freezing) and the soils are soaking in all this wonderful rain. A good rain year means a lot (for many obvious reasons). One very positive attribute is the leaching out of salts that have built up in the grapevines root zones over these 5 years of drought. With the salts gone, the vines should absolutely go crazy this year. After 2 years of a small crop load we sure could use a big 2017 harvest.

The 2016 wines have all finished their fermentations and are now in the aging process. The Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Rose' of Pinot Noir will all be bottled in early March, 5 months of age time. The Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs will be bottled in late August early September after 10 to 11 months of aging. Why the different times? The easy answer is some wines don't necessarily need that much aging because with aging you lose the bright, fruity notes and with some wines those bright, fruity notes are what the wines are supposed to express. The 2016 vintage is tasting outstanding.

Cheers to all of you! Here's to an incredible 2017!

Frank

From The Tasting Room:

Happy New Year Everyone! To start off 2017 we will be highlighting our chardonnay. Our chardonnay fruit has been one of our signature varietals going back to the first year of the vineyard. Over the past few vintages Frank has expanded our chardonnay profile to four beautiful bottles that range stylistically. From crisp, citrusy fruit coming from the Due Bambine; to creamy and oak aged styles with the Estate and Bella Sandra; to a sweet and delicious treat with the Late Harvest. All are unique, yet all share the common thread of terroir and winemaker. The Silvestri Vineyards Bella Sandra and Estate Chardonnays are first pressed and put into stainless steel tanks. They are then racked to French oak barrels to begin primary fermentation (sugar to alcohol), which takes place over a 3-4 week period. The grapes used for the Bella Sandra come from a specific block in the vineyard that contains the Robert Young clone; making a wine with big, robust fruit. The Bella Sandra also sees a higher percentage of new french oak barrels for fermentation and cellaring. After primary fermentation is complete the wine is then inoculated to begin the malolactic fermentation process. This process gives the wine a buttery, creamy character. The wine is then stirred every 10 days for several months to increase mouthfeel and then aged for approximately 10 months before bottling.

2014 Chardonnay, Bella Sandra
$45 Retail

2013 Chardonnay, Bella Sandra (Magnum 1.5L)
$75 Retail

2014 Chardonnay, Estate
$27 Retail

Our Late Harvest Chardonnay is sweet, yet offers a vibrant finish that is clean and refreshing. The term "late harvest" refers to grapes that are left on the vines for an extended amount of time. During this extra hang-time the grapes continue to produce sugar, and at the same time begin to dehydrate. In addition, the growth of Botrytis Cinerea or Noble Rot accelerates water loss inside the grape, boosting sugar levels even higher. We are left with a rich wine that is slightly higher in alcohol and contains a small amount of residual sugar.

2014 Late Harvest Chardonnay
$45 Retail (375ml)

Cheers, Dorothea, Keith, Olivia and Nicole

Current Tasting Menu: $18
2014 Chardonnay, Bella Sandra, Estate $45
2014 Pinot Noir, Piave, Estate $36
Red Blend, Eugenia, Estate $25
2014 Barbera, Estate $55

Available for sale:
2014 Chardonnay, Estate $27
2013 Chardonnay, Bella Sandra, Estate (magnum only) $75
2014 Late Harvest Chardonnay, Estate (375ml bottle) $45
2014 Syrah, Estate $35

Tasting Room
7th Avenue between Dolores and San Carlos | Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA | (831) 625-0111

WWW.SILVESTRIVINEYARDS.COM

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