2006 MARSANNE “SANTA YNEZ VALLEY”

This wine is 87% Marsanne and 13% Roussanne from the following vineyards: 60% Marsanne from the Ibarra-Young Vineyard in Los Olivos (Santa Ynez Valley); 18% Marsanne from the Demetria Vineyard near Los Olivos (Santa Ynez Valley); 9% Marsanne from the Rozet Vineyards in Templeton (Paso Robles); 8% Roussanne from the Stolpman Vineyard near Los Olivos; and 5% Roussanne from the Bien Nacido Vineyard (Santa Maria Valley).

The Demetria Vineyard is a new source of Marsanne for us and a very interesting addition. It’s the old Andrew Murray Vineyard back behind Zaca Mesa and, as of 2006, is being farmed biodynamically. The grapes and resulting wine have a strong minerality that adds to the wet-stone component we always get from Ibarra-Young.

All of the lots were harvested, fermented and aged separately. Production techniques were basically the same for all lots – whole cluster pressed; chilled and settled for 24-48 hours; barrel fermented in older French oak barrels (the Bien Nacido Roussanne was in one year old barrels); allowed to go through malo. The lots were aged on the lees for 5 months before blending and bottling. 1397 cases of 750 ml and 100 cases of 375 ml were bottled in March 2007.

This 2006 reminds we a lot of some of our cooler vintage Marsanne like ’91, ’98, and ’99. Lots of minerality with classic peach pit, citrus, hazelnut and a trace of honey. This is a lighter more elegant expression of the grape than our great 2005 Marsanne with a bit lower alcohol (12.7%) and a tad higher acidity. It should age beautifully all the same.

 

2005 Vintage Reviews