Horse Heaven Late Harvest Chenin Blanc 2006

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Starting at: $29.99 USD

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Chenin Blanc

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What to Expect

Chenin Blanc is one of the world's least-known and appreciated great white wine grapes. Originally from France's Loire Valley, Chenin Blanc has spread around the globe and is used for virtually all styles of white wine, from crisp and lean to rich, round full table wines, sparkling wines, and some of the most decadent dessert wines made. Classic descriptors for the flavors of Chenin Blanc include peach, honey, lanolin, marzipan, and quince jelly though the dry style from South Africa, where the wines are known as Steen, often exhibits more tropical fruit notes that recall pineapple and guava.

Winemakers Notes

Tasting NotesChateau Ste. Michelle is truly passionate about dessert wines and we have been making a Late Harvest Riesling for decades. This is only our second vintage making a Late Harvest wine out of Chenin Blanc grapes and we are thrilled with the results. The Late Harvest Chenin Blanc offers aromas and flavors of ripe melon and sweet lime. Think Key Lime pie in a glass! The sweet fruit flavors are wonderfully balanced by a natural refreshing acidity.-Bob Bertheau, WinemakerWinemaker's Harvest StoryThe 2006 harvest brought us unique opportunities to make a variety of sweet wines, read more...including a Late Harvest Riesling, Late Harvest Chenin Blanc, Riesling Ice Wine, Chenin Blanc Ice Wine, as well as our prized Single Berry Select Trockenbeerenauslese style wine. With forecasts predicting below freezing temperatures for the evening of October 30th, we decided to pick our botrytis affected grapes for the Single Berry select during the day on Oct. 30th. Then we picked frozen ice wine grapes that night during the freeze and grapes for late harvest wines the next morning after the grapes had thawed. We ended up picking grapes for five different dessert wines within 24 hours!Vineyards Hand selected grape clusters were harvested from our Horse Heaven Vineyard located adjacent to the Columbia River.The vineyards Chenin Blanc vines produced very low yields of 2.5 tons per acre.The site enjoys early-morning humidity and moderate daytime temperatures in which Botrytis cinerea thrives.Select Chenin Blanc grapes were left hanging on the vine until the last week of October, to achieve the natural condition of Botrytis required for making this exceptional wine.Winemaking Botrytis infected clusters of Chenin Blanc grapes were carefully harvested on October 31st.Cool fermentation with very fruit forward yeasts were carefully monitored to preserve Chenin Blancs crisp fruit characteristics.Cool temperatures of 52 F to 54 F were maintained during the three week fermentation in stainless steel tanks to preserve the fruits intrinsically vibrant flavor profile.Technical DataAlcohol: 8.0%Total Acidity: 0.89g /100mlpH: 3.10Residual Sugar: 17.8Blend: 100% Horse Heaven Vineyard Chenin Blanc    (hide)

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