Champagne Wishes: Ehlers Estate 2011 Sauvignon Blanc Receives High Accolades from Whom You Know!!
I adore Sauvignon Blanc. This is the first I have tried Ehlers Estate Sauvignon Blanc and I have to say, it is fantastic. 100% Sauvignon Blanc, 100% estate grown, 100% organic equals 100% perfection. This full, floral, dry Sauvignon Blanc puts other Sauvignon Blancs to shame. This is the perfect summer wine with flavors of Myer lemon zest, orange blossoms, peaches, apricot and grapefruit. Ehlers Estate Sauvignon Blanc is clean, crisp, fruity and full. Absolutely divine!
With its vineyards located in the Napa Valley, Ehlers Estate has a rich and interesting history. In 2001, Jean Leducq resurrected the original (from 1886) estate of Bernard Ehlers. By combining it with other property he had aquired, he created a 43 acre estate.
With Jean Leducq's passing in 2002, Elhers Estate was left in trust to the non-profit Leducq Foundation which is dedicated to funding international cardiovascular research. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of Ehlers Estate wines go to support this foundation. It is said that this wine is the winemaker's favorite white wine in Napa Valley! I highly recommend Ehlers Estate Sauvignon Blanc to any lover of white wine.
Now that the summer is upon us, it is time for me to switch from my usual choice of red wine to some light and refreshing whites. It's just the beginning of the season, and I am ready to find some great new wines this summer. One perfect summer wine is Ehlers Estate 2001 Sauvignon Blanc. This wine has a beautiful pale golden color. When I poured it into my glass, I instantly smelled sweet peaches and citrus.
I could not wait to take my first sip! The wine is full-bodied and very dry. Its floral notes are complemented by flavors of lemon, peach, and apricot. I enjoyed this wine all on its own with a warm breeze on my cheek. If I were to drink it with dinner, it would pair very nicely with pasta in a light cream sauce or with a tasty grilled fish. One reason this wine has such a wonderful flavor is that it is made from organically grown grapes. If you weren't convinced before about the benefits of going organic, Ehlers Estate will show you why organic is the way to go! I know I will be stocking up for the summer. I recommend you go out and get a few bottles of this wine too!
Citrus on a summer's day is the answer to many a parched palate. With the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc from Ehlers Estate, the flavors of lemon zest and orange blossoms will do precisely that: refresh. Crisp and "bone-dry", this white wine is touted to be the favorite of Kevin Morrisey, winemaker at the Estates. The organic full fruited wine adds no note of oak to the complexity of it's layers. It's a bold wine, and comes from a small crop , so it won't be available for long.
Ehlers Estate has a twist not every winery can boast of: all of its proceeds go to the Leducq Foundation. Jean Leducq, who purchased the Estate in the 1980's, established a foundation to study cardiovascular disease. Humane, human, and conscientious roots to these vines, with a biodynamic philosophy behind every bottle. these are world class wines, with a history that dates to 1886. The lands are just north of St. Helena, and are among the most prized in Napa Valley. Their wines hint of seduction, soft summer nights, and lasting relationships. The core values of the winery are balance and structure, and it's proven in the identity of the wines from this Estate. There's a notable quality that says "style" in each bottle.
In my world, summertime = Sauvignon Blanc time. And, as we head into THIS summer, there's a new bottle at the top of my list! I recently tried the 2011 Ehlers Estate Sauvignon Blanc, and found it to be absolutely delightful. It is bright, vibrant, and crisp - the perfect way to cool down on a hot summer evening. I must admit, even before I cracked open the bottle, this wine had a few things in its favor. First, it comes from the excellent winemakers at Ehlers Estate. Nestled in Napa Valley's St. Helen appellation, grapes have been grown on the property of Ehlers Estate since the mid-1800s. The vineyards were revitalized and expanded by French entrepreneur and philanthropist Jean Leducq in the mid-1980s, and, since their first new vintage in 2000, they have upheld the absolute highest standards in their production. This delectable Sauvignon Blanc is no exception. It is flavorful and lively, yet also complex and sophisticated. With aromas of crisp citrus fruit and stone fruit, enhanced by a light floral fragrance, emanating from the glass, I could barely wait to take a sip. Once I did, I was rewarded with one of the best Sauvignon Blancs - actually, one of the best white wines, period - I've tasted in years. Tangy and clean, with a crisp minerality, the wine was at once creamy and smooth, yet remarkably dry. Add into the mix that it is made from 100% estate grown, certified organic grapes, and it's a no-brainer that this should be a welcome addition to any wine-lover's wine rack!
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2011 Sauvignon Blanc
Final Blend: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Fruit Source: 100% Estate Grown
Farming: 100% CCOF Certified Organic, 100% Demeter Certified Biodynamic
Oak Regime: No new oak. Stainless steel, and neutral, used French barrels
Harvest Date: September 8, 2011
Bottling Date: February 9, 2012
Production: 399 cases
Average Maturity: 23.1 °Brix, 3.31 pH, .073 TA
Finished Wine: 13.9% alcohol
Winemaker’s Notes: European style meets California sunshine! Aged 6 months sur lie, this is a full bodied, rich, floral, and bone-dry Sauvignon Blanc that has no new oak or malolatic influences competing with the stunning complexity of the fruit. The flavors of Meyer lemon zest, orange blossoms, white peaches, apricot, and grapefruit define this clean, bold, white wine that is at once rich and creamy, crisp and dry, and made from 100% estate-grown, certified organic grapes. This is the winemaker’s favorite white wine in the Napa Valley!
Notes on the Vintage: 2011 was another record cool year here in the valley. We had a wet winter and spring, and saw rainfall continuing well into mid-June. For all varietals the fruit set at unusually low levels, and just as would be expected, the small crop produced wines with great intensity and complexity. The summer in Napa Valley was the coldest on record, and the harvest was the latest that anyone can remember. Generally terrific quality at lower alcohols for those of us who were able to harvest ahead of the early autumn rains.
The Ehlers Estate Story
At Ehlers Estate, our goal is to produce wines that are a reflection of the land from which they come. We operate as a small family farm, and our values: sustainability, community, quality, philanthropy, and history, reflect that. In 1985, passionate for business, Bordeaux-style wines, and giving back, Jean and Sylviane Leducq acquired and began a revitalization of the historic 43-acre Bernard Ehlers estate vineyard and winery, located on the coveted loamy benchlands just north of St. Helena. With Jean Leducq’s passing in 2002, the winery became an asset of the couple’s esteemed Leducq Foundation, and today the farming, winemaking, and stylistic direction is entrusted to winemaker Kevin Morrisey. After replanting the vineyards on what are some of the finest winegrowing soils in the Napa Valley, constructing a new state of the art winery and barrel building, and defining a wine style that is at once Californian and European, Ehlers Estate has come to enjoy a unique position in the Napa Valley: farming organically and biodynamically, producing world class wines, and returning all profits to benefit cardiovascular research around the globe. The winery produces Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The flagship, Cabernet Sauvignon “1886”, is an assemblage from the westernmost Perkins loam parcels and the Aikens loam knoll behind the barrel chai.
The Ehlers Estate Vineyard and Viticulture Profile
History: The Ehlers Estate vineyard is located on an historic winegrowing site in the northern part of Napa Valley’s acclaimed St. Helena appellation. Grapes have been cultivated on this coveted site since the mid-1800s. The vineyard was replanted using a diversity of clone and rootstock selections under the guidance of renowned enologist, Jacques Boissenot, in 1995, 1996 and 1997. Today, under the leadership of Winemaker and General Manger Kevin Morrisey, the Ehlers Estate Vineyard, which is the source of exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Sauvignon Blanc, is certified organic and is farmed using both organic and biodynamic principles.
Contiguous Layout: The Ehlers Estate vineyard benefits from a unique Old World layout that is quite rare in California. The historic Ehlers winery building is located in the center of the contiguous estate vineyard. The farthest point on the property from the winery is approximately 600 yards, allowing the Ehlers team to have complete control over every aspect of the viticulture program, leading to greater focus and quality.
Diversity: The contiguous 42-acre Ehlers Estate vineyard offers a remarkable diversity of soils, clones and rootstocks, and is approached as a mosaic of small vineyard blocks. The vineyard is divided into five main blocks (based primarily on soil type) and 25 sub-blocks, which are largely defined by unique combinations of clone and rootstock. Eleven of these blocks (totaling 25 acres) are dedicated to six different clones of Cabernet Sauvignon planted on multiple rootstocks, allowing the winemaking team an expansive palette of fruit during the blending process. The vineyard also features seven sub-blocks of Merlot, four of Cabernet Franc, two of Sauvignon Blanc and a block of Petit Verdot.
The site’s 39.4-cultivated acres display four distinctive soil types, each of which offers unique growing conditions that enhance the diversity of the vineyard. These soil profiles include a knoll with sandy, low vigor soils, a section with rich, well-draining sandy loam soils, a low-elevation section with dense, heavy clay soils, and a very rocky, mineral-rich section at the base of Spring Mountain (the primary source of Cabernet Sauvignon for Ehlers Estate’s sought-after “1886” bottling). Row orientations in the vineyard are east/west and north/south.
Because of several factors including the estate’s varietal differentiation, clone and rootstock selections, and a range of vine ages and soil types, there is usually an entire month between the picking of the first and last grape. This, combined with the fact that the vineyard surrounds the winery, makes it possible to pick all the grapes at ideal ripeness, which in turn helps to produce wines with beautifully articulated flavors.
Microclimate: Because the vineyard is located at the valley’s narrowest point, between the Mayacamas Mountains to the west and Howell Mountain to the east, it benefits from a unique microclimate. This location allows for constant airflow through the vineyard, which brings fog in the morning, but clears it out in the afternoons, giving the vineyard ample sunshine, mediated by cooling breezes. These breezes also moderate heat spikes, allowing for excellent, even ripening of the fruit.
Practices: Morrisey, Vineyard Foreman Francisco Vega, and Ehlers Estate’s fulltime, seven-person vineyard crew work to honor the diversity of the vineyard. In practice, this means that each of the site’s 25 sub-blocks benefits from farming techniques tailored to its combination of soil, clone and rootstock. All hedging and canopy management is done by hand, and depending on the varietal, vines can receive up to six passes of pruning and thinning to limit yields. Instead of setting arbitrary yield limits, the team works to limit total clusters. The number of clusters varies based on block, soil and varietal, with an overall average of 14 clusters per plant.
Though the Ehlers Estate vineyard uses a vertical trellis, the crew has begun converting the vines to cane pruning for Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.
Organic Farming: As part of a vineyard-focused, socially responsible approach to winemaking, the Ehlers Estate vineyard is farmed exclusively using earth-friendly organic farming methods. These methods help to preserve the purity and character of the estate’s fruit, leading to stellar wines reflecting an authentic sense of place. Ehlers Estate adopted organic practices beginning in the fall of 2004. Since then, no pesticides have been used on the vineyard. In July of 2008, Ehlers Estate was awarded organic certification, reflecting more than three years of deep commitment to organic farming practices.
Biodynamic Farming: In the spring of 2005, Ehlers Estate began practicing biodynamic farming, a holistic, chemical-free approach to agriculture that is practiced by several of the world’s oldest and most respected wineries. Based on the work of Austrian scientist and philosopher Rudolph Steiner, biodynamic farming is a comprehensive alternative to industrialized agriculture that approaches vineyards (or farms) as complete living organisms. To achieve greater vineyard health and fruit quality, biodynamics focuses on naturally derived plant and foliar treatments. Winemaker Kevin Morrisey works closely with renowned biodynamic consultant, Philippe Armenier, to ensure that Ehlers Estate embraces all of the strict criteria and practices of biodynamics, including the use of all plant and foliar treatments, and adherence to the biodynamic calendar and the natural cycles of the earth.
One of the elements that make biodynamic and organic viticulture so successful is the intimate, hands-on attention given at every stage of winegrowing. This hands-on attention greatly enhances quality. Simply put, the wines of Ehlers Estate are made from estate-grown grapes that come from healthy, happy, chemical-free vines.
