Winemaker Notes:

Over the past decade, we’ve fallen deeply in love with whole-grape, low-extraction carbonic fermentation as a way of delivering delicious, fresh expressions of our intense Santa Barbara County red grapes. In 2020, we decided to experiment with the technique on white grapes to make an orange wine.

In our third edition of Love You Bunches Orange, we’ve further refined our varietal blend to deliver the most delicious Orange yet. Pinot Gris for depth and color co-fermented with tropical Orange Muscat. In 2022 we are thrilled to add the traditional orange wine grape, Tocai Fruilano for more texture and brightness. Gewurztraminer adds further color and more exotic tropical notes.

Pressing the whole grapes after only 7 days allows the native fermentation to finish as liquid only, removed from the skins. This delicate extraction ensures a clean, balanced “fresh” orange wine. We then capture this fresh profile by bottling early, in mid-January.

The cold, windy springtime conditions especially affected the more delicate white varietals. Far fewer clusters budded than even our conservative forecasts for these old, conservative vines. With the addition of Tocai Fruilano to our orange wine quiver, we anticipated a nice increase in production but instead wound up over 25% down from 2021. As is almost always the case, with lack of quantity came amazing quality – a new level of tactile depth and a bright, dynamic flavor profile. A fine, unfiltered haze, just shy of transparency, lends even more texture to the 2022. This year, the entire cuvee rested in barrel (rather than a combination of tank and barrel) for further tactile integration and development.

Vacation in a bottle! Lychee, orange blossom, Thai basil, Apricot, and Grapefruit. The wine keeps going with layer on layer of waves washing over the palate bringing with them touches of tangerine, tarragon, and firm crunchy peach. As I type these notes on the North Shore of Oahu, my mind takes me to an adult version of yummy POG juice, a joy that 5 year old Auggie and 3 year old Otto tried for the first time this trip! I reckon smelling and tasting the 2022 Love You Bunches Orange will forever take me back here to the Islands!

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