2022 - Nice - Chenin & Grenache

Flottaison Grenache in Chenin Blanc Juice

Swan Valley 

30ppm of Sulphites at bottling

775 bottles made

The first collab for 2022, this one for all the good c... cobbers over at Besk. We played around with some techniques we hadn’t previously used, and, joy of joys, it turned out looking absolutely schmick as a result. 

Utilising a method termed ‘Flottaison,’ directly inspired by French Winemaker Daniel Sage of Ardeche. Flottaison is the process of submerging whole berries/bunches of one pick into the fermenting juice of another pick – thereby producing an anaerobic enviromment for the submerged portion to undergo carbonic maceration in whilst also allowing the sharing of characters between the juice and the submerged fruit.

The same Chenin that produced the free run juice that went on to make the Valentine was pressed direct to tank on January 24th and allowed to ferment at ambient temperature. A week later, at which point it had progressed part way through fermentation, we tipped in 27 crates of whole bunch Grenache, the first pick from our grenache block, into the Chenin juice to initiate the process of flottaison. These bunches were steeped for 8 days, during which time the Chenin picked up a remarkable pink hue, before the whole tank was transferred again to the press and the carbonically macerated juice liberated from the bunches and blended with the dry Chenin wine in tank. 

This blend ticked through to dryness about a week later. It was then sealed up, and disturbed only when racked a week before bottling. Bottled 28th August, with the addition of a touch of SO2 to appease the apostate scaredy cats at Besk.

The result is an electric pink oddity that is outrageously drinkable. Described in the winery as the ‘Ultimate Hair of the Dog’ this Berocca-esque wine needs to be tasted to be truly understood.

Label art produced by the always chill Cody Madalena of Besk Bottle Shop.