Arietta Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc Blend Sonoma Mountain On the White Keys 2005

Rare wine specialist and wine auctioneer Fritz Hatton founded Arietta in 1996 in partnership with winemaker John Kongsgaard and his wife Maggy. The partnership was born of a shared passion for fine wine and classical music. The vinous inspiration for Arietta was an extraordinary 2.3 acre block of Cabernet Franc on the Hudson Ranch in Napa/Carneros. The fruit from this block of Cabernet Franc serves as the core of the Arietta Red Wine (renamed Arietta H Block Hudson Vineyards in the 2000 vintage). The Arietta project grew with the selection of additional superb blocks of Merlot and Syrah on the Hudson Ranch. Arietta added two wines to its portfolio: Arietta Red Wine Variation One, an innovative blend of Merlot and Syrah, and Arietta Merlot Hudson Vineyards, produced only in selected vintages. Pursuing our principle of purchasing fruit only from the very finest vineyard blocks, Arietta in the 2003 vintage purchased a small quantity of Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain vineyards farmed by famed Napa grower David Abreu. This fruit afforded us the opportunity to release a small quantity of Arietta Cabernet Sauvignon 2003. In 2004 the addition of four small blocks of Bordeaux varietals farmed by David Abreu at the summit of Howell Mountain formed the core of the first Arietta Claret, the precursor to Arietta Quartet. In 2005 Fritz Hatton and his wife Caren purchased the Kongsgaard’s interest in Arietta, and became sole owners. The highly talented Andy Erickson was invited to become Arietta’s new winemaker, and worked alongside John Kongsgaard for a year before taking the reins in the summer of 2006. Erickson crafted Arietta’s first ever white wine, Arietta “On The White Keys” 2005, from very rare hillside blocks of Sauvignon Blanc on Sonoma Mountain and two tiny old vine Semillon blocks in the Hyde Vineyards in Napa Carneros. Barrel fermented and aged for eight months in a combination of stainless steel and French oak barrels, the wine was an instant success upon release in the fall of 2006. Arietta’s dynamic development continues with the release of the fabulously rich 2006 vintage, the first bearing winemaker Andy Erickson’s signature from harvest to bottling. Read less