Sancaba

A peculiarly distinctive vintage, both for the unusually cool weather conditions as well as for the innovations introduced in the vinification protocol.

Regarding the protocol, the use of indigenous yeasts and 25% whole clusters was introduced for the first time, as was already the case for the fermentation of the Petit Sancaba second wine.

However, unlike Petit, greater extraction was sought through longer pump‐overs as well as some punchdowns, so as to give the wine more structure.

Aging in third and fourth‐use barriques was reduced to 8 months. These innovations, together with the unusually cool weather conditions of the vintage ‐ ideal for achieving optimal phenolic maturity in pinot noir‐ and the naturally low yields caused by the mildew outbreak, resulted in a wine of exceptional complexity and aromatic expressiveness.

The 2023 vintage was exceedingly wet and damp, one of the most complicated of the past decade with regards to the control of fungal disease, especially for those who conduct organically certified farming in the vineyard as we do.

Abundant rainfall lasted right up to early July and created the conditions for a strong presence of mildew in the vineyards that seriously compromised the yield of the pinot noir crop. As a result, only 3.179 bottles of Sancaba were produced in this vintage.

On the other hand, the natural crop thinning caused by the mildew epidemic combined with the painstaking hand clearing of clusters conducted in the vineyard over the month of August, resulted in a small harvest of few grapes but of exceptional quality.