North America | Napa | Matthaisson | Sweet Vermouth #6

Sweet Vermouth #6

VARIETALS
Mostly Flora (cross of Semillon and Gewürztraminer, bred at UC Davis in the 1950s), with small amount of Viognier

NOTES

VINEYARD: The California industry moved away from hybrids by the 1960s and Flora fell into obscurity. When Steve Matthiasson heard that Flora still existed in the organically-farmed Yount Mill Vineyard he immediately begged for some fruit. This fruit is a rare exception for Matthiasson as they try to grow all of their own fruit for their wines — but the temptation to make wine from this rare and historical variety was too much to resist.

The steep hillside and narrow rows require most work to be done by hand—even the compost is applied with shovels and wheelbarrows, that task alone takes two weeks. It’s a challenging vineyard to farm but it’s worth it.
Certified Organic.

VINIFICATION: The fruit was picked very late, with some botrytis and raisins at harvest. On top of the naturally high sugar, the must was sweetened further by chaptalizing with a mix of organic white and brown cane sugar to around 45 brix. The grapes were fermented whole cluster (skins and stems) in open-top fermenters with manual punch downs twice a day. The fermentation was left to stop naturally, with 120-170 grams per liter of residual sugar remaining due to the high brix when the grapes were crushed, then the wine was pressed into partially full used barrels. The barrels for aging are a mix of French Oak that previously held Matthiasson white wines, and 25-year-old French Cognac barrels (that come from France with traces of Cognac still remaining in the pores of the wooden staves).
No sulfites were added during elevage and there was no topping. Instead, the wine was allowed to slowly oxidize and therefore developed wonderful nutty and dried fruit flavors.
To complement the natural grape aromas of the Flora, Matthiasson made infusions of their own home-grown blood oranges and sour cherries, along with organic coriander seed that they purchased. The infusions were made in a base of high-proof neutral grape spirits.
The bittering was mainly done by adding an infusion of home-grown cardoons and wormwood (grown at the winery), but they also purchased chinchona bark and organic blessed thistle to infuse for a little more complexity. The infusions were added into the wine right before bottling.
415 cases of 375ml produced (5 cases for MA)

TASTING NOTES: The Napa Valley Sweet Vermouth No. 5 makes a great boulevardier, blood and sand, negroni, manhattan, or even better, can be served neat as an aperitif or to accompany dessert. Batch No. 6 is a non-vintage solera blend of the 2016 through 2021 vintages. The older wine gives the dried fruit and spicy-nutty flavors, and the younger wine is more vibrant with fresh fruits.