Las Jaras Slipper Sippers Nouveau Red Blend Mendocino Old Vine North Coast 2022

Nouveau is the name given to the first wine of the vintage. The style originated in Beaujolais, just south of Burgundy where they make wines from Gamay Noir using the technique: carbonic maceration.

During carbonic maceration, open top tanks with carbon dioxide are filled with whole cluster grapes and then sealed for a number of days. To make this wine the Las Jaras team employed carbonic maceration for the Valdiguié grapes which come from 40-70 year old vines grown in the Frei Vineyard (Green Valley.) Then pressed the clusters and fermented the wine in a warm tank. The Petite Sirah was destemmed and put in the tank as direct press rosé. Two days before bottling the racked the tank and added 15ppm SO2 to protect from any oxygen the wine picked up during bottling. The 2022 Las Jaras Slipper Sippers is a blend of predominantly Valdiguié with Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, and Sangiovese.