Six years ago, we began making what has become our most popular style of red wine: Nouveau. Fresh, fruit-forward, and released just weeks after harvest, it’s a wine we look forward to sharing every fall.This year, we weren’t sure we would have one.
Before we get to that story, let’s talk about what makes this wine different: carbonic maceration.
So, what is carbonic?
For our traditional red wines, we typically destem and crush the grapes into a tank, where the juice ferments alongside the skins and seeds. Throughout fermentation, we use “punch downs” or “pump overs” to keep the skins in contact with the juice, extracting color, flavor, and structure. Carbonic maceration takes a different approach. Rather than crushing all the fruit, we keep the berries intact, allowing fermentation to begin inside the grapes themselves in an environment rich in carbon dioxide.
For us, the process starts with days of hands-on work. We carefully sort the fruit, sometimes destemming individual clusters by hand while keeping the berries whole. If you peeked into the tank, you would see grape clusters and individual berries nestled tightly together, almost like a tank full of blueberries.
After about three days of sorting, we add yeast and nutrients, close the tank, and gently warm it to help fermentation begin. The yeast ferments the available juice, releasing carbon dioxide and creating the conditions that allow the intact berries to begin their own internal fermentation. Think of it as a million tiny fermentations happening inside one tank. Eventually, we press the fruit, and the fermentation finishes in the tank. It’s hands-on at the beginning, followed by a period when we have to trust our preparation while carefully monitoring the tank. That part can be nerve-racking. There is plenty happening beneath those grape skins that we cannot see.
Then, comes the race to the bottle. We often take our Nouveau from harvest to release in fewer than 60 days, and this year is no exception.
After losing our Barbera crop in the April freeze, we thought we might have to skip Nouveau altogether. But about a week before the Cabernet Franc was ready to pick, we made a last-minute decision: we would use it for this year’s Nouveau, returning to a Cabernet Franc Nouveau we hadn’t produced commercially in more than ten years. It turned out beautifully.
We decided that deserved a party—and a chance to revisit the earlier vintages that helped make Nouveau such a beloved part of our winery. Join us for our Nouveau Release Party on November 22 to taste vintages from 2023 through our newest release, enjoy locally sourced bites, and take a little time to relax before the holiday rush.
After all, we know what we’ll be drinking on Thanksgiving. Do you?