Vineyard: Nakai

AVA: Russian River Valley

Farming: Organic, Dry Farmed

Harvest Date: 30 August 2024

Bottling Date: 20 March 2025

Alc: 13%

Cases: 75

My second time making an individual wine out of Aki Nakai’s Muscat Vert, and I love the 2024 just as much as the 2023.  While the weather in Russian River Valley was similar to Redwood Valley (consistently hot but no major heat waves, and cold nights), the Muscat Vert is less hardy than the Colombard or Carignan, and prefers cooler weather.  As a result, the vines didn’t produce as much fruit as they did in 2023, and the grapes are perhaps even more aromatically concentrated.

The Muscat Vert was pressed directly, settled overnight, and racked off gross lees to stainless steel for fermentation.  Once fermentation finished, the wine was placed into a combination of stainless steel and neutral oak barrels to age for 6 months before being racked together for bottling in March.

Aki calls this fruit Muscat Vert, so I feel it’s right to put this variety on the label.  However, I am unsure as to whether or not it is truly a Muscat, as it lacks the distinctive aromatics I normally associate with the variety.  At the same time, it is certainly more aromatic than Colombard or Chardonnay or Chenin, an aspect which I believe is beautifully exemplified in this direct to press expression of the grape.  Whatever the variety is, it is unique among the other wines I produce, and I am very happy to be able to continue to make a single varietal wine from it.

Indigenous yeast fermentation. SO2: 30 ppm total.  No other additions, unfined and unfiltered.

‘the sun egg’ is a book by Swedish author Elsa Beskow, about an elf who finds an orange in the woods.  One of my favorite stories as a child.