2019 Fort of Malvasia Bianca

We made our first white, port-style dessert wine in 2017. It was a weird experiment we’d been toying with for a couple years, and our first attempt actually turned out pretty well. When we found ourselves with a couple extra barrels of Syrah in 2018, we decided to give it another shot. We first sent the wine to our friends at O.H.S.O Distillery for distillation. Once we had that delicious, high-proof brandy, our next step was to again beg Sam Pillsbury – who again graciously and courageously obliged – to ripen some Malvasia Bianca a little longer than he might usually. We harvested the fruit at 25% sugar – when flavor, aroma and texture are even more concentrated – then processed and fermented it like any of our other white wines. When sugars dropped to about 3%, we added enough of that awesome brandy to hit 17.8% alcohol, killing off the yeast and arresting fermentation. We then aged the wine for 9 months in neutral French oak and 2 months in stainless steel. Because we came a few gallons short on filling those two barrels after fermentation, we topped them up with a couple wines that made a good fit. This is a fun and unique wine… seems like it’s slowly becoming a regular thing for us! Only two barrels produced.