A renaissance has occurred at Hannah Nicole Vineyards and Winery in Brentwood under winemaker Julian Erggelet and his team where this spring wine lovers will be able to taste the fruits of their labor.
This week, the Hannah Nicole team was bottling its Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé and Viognier which will be released later this spring.
According to Erggelet, this was a long-awaited release after making changes in how they farm the land nearly 2-years ago. The 2015 Sauvignon Blanc is the first wine under the new efforts.
“Whenever you come into a vineyard, you assess what you have which is a great location, great selection of varietals so we came up with a 2-3 year plan to turn the vineyard into a more alive vineyard,” says Erggelet. “We moved away from heavy pesticides and fungicides so we brought in wildflowers, bees, cover crops and pursuing a no-till technique to keep soil compact to retain water. We now go all manual without spraying any pre-emergent and keep all weeds mowed with invine cultivation. The goal is for minimal impact on the environment which will show in this year’s wine.”
According to Erggelet, they also moved to a low yield and came in at 1.5 tons per acre which is unheard of. This created good acidity and slow maturity to the 2015 Sauvignon Blanc. He says it’s a nice concentrated taste where they went hands off in winemaking while using in indigenous yeast, minimal monitoring in the barrel and were careful with the wine.
“We let the wine do its thing in the tank and we were rewarded with a very fine wine,” says Erggelet. “We are all excited, the fruit came in fantastic and beautify concentrated. It was a great wine that evolved in the tank. It’s a very signature Sauvignon Blanc with no flaws.”
Erggelet says they have received good feedback at professional tastings on the wine and cannot wait to release it to the public and see how the East Contra Costa community likes the wine. But he was quick to point out it all started with a change in how they farmed the vineyard.
“The vineyard is alive and the lack of chemicals is showing. We did not expect change to happen his fast and were ready to sit it out 2-3 years if we had to in order to wait for change, but to see how fast a vineyard can come back to life and see green and be strong and healthy by minimal impact is encouraging to see for a winemaker and viticulturist,” explained Erggelet.
For those accustomed to the 2012-14 taste of the Sauvignon Blanc, you will notice a change in the the label as well as color of the wine, however, it will be similar to the taste of those vintages. That said, the bar has been raised with a nicer finish, nicer minerals, acidity has improved and it will have a better freshness to it.
“It’s the perfect summer drink,” says Erggelet. “This Sauvignon Blanc drink adds to our variety at winery. The wine is the most elegant of the lot. We have something for everyone.”
In total, the winery is bottling about 400 cases of the Sauvignon Blanc, 350 cases of the Viognier, and 500 cases of the Rosé. The prices are around $28 per bottle in the spring release.
Hannah Nicole Vineyards and Winery will be having a pre-release for the industry in the late spring with its wine club receiving it’s wine in its first summer shipment. A few weeks later, the wine will be released in time for summer enjoyment.
With the lower yield crop, the winery is expecting to sell out by the end of the fall.
For more information on Hannah Nicole Vineyards and Winery, visit www.hnvwines.com. The winery is open daily from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm for tastings. They are located at 6700 Balfour Road, in Brentwood, CA.
3 comments
I tried there win a few years back, was overrated. Tried it last year and it was better. Given the new winemaker, now I am excited to try it when its available. Sounds like Hannah Nicole is finally getting it right.
Looks good, I now want to try it. Have never been to this winery so I will add it to my list. I never even knew Brentwood had a winery.
Wine, one hell of a drug!
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