Haarmeyer Wine Cellars ‘Victor Weisser’ Gemischter Satz White 2023
Location: United States, California
Winemaker: Craig Haarmeyer
Soil: silty clay loam
Grapes: Field blend
Winemaking: Crushed with the stems and basket pressed for an overnight settle, the must was racked to tank where it underwent a native yeast fermentation. The wine was racked to neutral oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and a short elevage. Bottled unfiltered and unfined 5 months later.
From the Producer: The Koth family has been farming the Mokelumne Glen vineyard since the early 1960’s when they bought the property, which was planted in classic Lodi fashion to Zinfandel. After a revelation about their heritage as it related to farming and the discovery of unfamiliar wines consumed in Germany, they decided to pull out all of the old vines and a pear orchard in order to focus on raising wines from unique German and Austrian varieties. The vineyard blocks are mostly Kerner, Riesling and Spatburgunder. To a lesser degree is Blaufränkisch and Dornfelder. The budwood comes from their library block dubbed ‘The German Collection’ contains 52 unique varieties. This acre block was offered to us in 2023 and we jumped at the chance to try our hand at a true American Gemischter Satz. We picked all of the fruit on August 26. Several varieties were very ripe while others were still quite tart.
From the Importer Selection Massale: Haarmeyer Wine Cellars is a family team - Craig, Alex, Kelly, and Marian Haarmeyer. Started in 2008 with fruit from a vineyard near the town of Galt, CA, Craig was interested primarily in making wines using Spanish and Portuguese varieties, mainly because of the dry climate and the proximity of this vineyard to his home and winery in Sacramento, CA. He felt the place seemed right for the numerous varieties of sun loving, hardy grapes planted there. This led him to consider other sites and he noticed how the wines could define and express the terroir of the region. Soon he began using the phrase "Sacramento terroir" to describe his early efforts.
Their primary focus is on Chenin Blanc and how it expresses itself, the vineyard, and the cellar. As wine drinkers they gravitate to Chenin Blanc wines irrespective of origin - Classic Loire Valley wines, Savennières in particular, and South African old vine wines are constant reference points. The way Chenin can manifest itself is miriad and compelling. It has naturally high acidity and handles oxidative aging in such a way that the wines are refreshing and sour in their youth and nutty and complex in their old age. Chenin also seems to always express its varietal characteristics and its terroir. Chenin’s Chenin-ness shows itself even when the influence of the cellar is present. This grape is fascinating and their journey starts and ends there. They are committed to exploring Northern California terroirs through the lens of Chenin Blanc.
They have six vineyard sources for Chenin: three in the Sacramento River Delta, one in eastern Lodi, and two in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. They work only with farmers who raise organic fruit and in the cellar they do as little modern processing as possible. Every lot is foot trodden and basket pressed without any corrections to chemistry or sulfur additions. The juice is exposed to oxygen and racked to neutral large format barrels and casks for unaided, native yeast fermentations. The wine remains in its fermentation vessel until it is assembled for bottling. All wines are ML complete and bottled without fining or filtering.Chenin may rule the roost but they also make a very special old vine Riesling, a Nebbiolo, and Zinfandel.
Location: United States, California
Winemaker: Craig Haarmeyer
Soil: silty clay loam
Grapes: Field blend
Winemaking: Crushed with the stems and basket pressed for an overnight settle, the must was racked to tank where it underwent a native yeast fermentation. The wine was racked to neutral oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and a short elevage. Bottled unfiltered and unfined 5 months later.
From the Producer: The Koth family has been farming the Mokelumne Glen vineyard since the early 1960’s when they bought the property, which was planted in classic Lodi fashion to Zinfandel. After a revelation about their heritage as it related to farming and the discovery of unfamiliar wines consumed in Germany, they decided to pull out all of the old vines and a pear orchard in order to focus on raising wines from unique German and Austrian varieties. The vineyard blocks are mostly Kerner, Riesling and Spatburgunder. To a lesser degree is Blaufränkisch and Dornfelder. The budwood comes from their library block dubbed ‘The German Collection’ contains 52 unique varieties. This acre block was offered to us in 2023 and we jumped at the chance to try our hand at a true American Gemischter Satz. We picked all of the fruit on August 26. Several varieties were very ripe while others were still quite tart.
From the Importer Selection Massale: Haarmeyer Wine Cellars is a family team - Craig, Alex, Kelly, and Marian Haarmeyer. Started in 2008 with fruit from a vineyard near the town of Galt, CA, Craig was interested primarily in making wines using Spanish and Portuguese varieties, mainly because of the dry climate and the proximity of this vineyard to his home and winery in Sacramento, CA. He felt the place seemed right for the numerous varieties of sun loving, hardy grapes planted there. This led him to consider other sites and he noticed how the wines could define and express the terroir of the region. Soon he began using the phrase "Sacramento terroir" to describe his early efforts.
Their primary focus is on Chenin Blanc and how it expresses itself, the vineyard, and the cellar. As wine drinkers they gravitate to Chenin Blanc wines irrespective of origin - Classic Loire Valley wines, Savennières in particular, and South African old vine wines are constant reference points. The way Chenin can manifest itself is miriad and compelling. It has naturally high acidity and handles oxidative aging in such a way that the wines are refreshing and sour in their youth and nutty and complex in their old age. Chenin also seems to always express its varietal characteristics and its terroir. Chenin’s Chenin-ness shows itself even when the influence of the cellar is present. This grape is fascinating and their journey starts and ends there. They are committed to exploring Northern California terroirs through the lens of Chenin Blanc.
They have six vineyard sources for Chenin: three in the Sacramento River Delta, one in eastern Lodi, and two in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. They work only with farmers who raise organic fruit and in the cellar they do as little modern processing as possible. Every lot is foot trodden and basket pressed without any corrections to chemistry or sulfur additions. The juice is exposed to oxygen and racked to neutral large format barrels and casks for unaided, native yeast fermentations. The wine remains in its fermentation vessel until it is assembled for bottling. All wines are ML complete and bottled without fining or filtering.Chenin may rule the roost but they also make a very special old vine Riesling, a Nebbiolo, and Zinfandel.
Location: United States, California
Winemaker: Craig Haarmeyer
Soil: silty clay loam
Grapes: Field blend
Winemaking: Crushed with the stems and basket pressed for an overnight settle, the must was racked to tank where it underwent a native yeast fermentation. The wine was racked to neutral oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and a short elevage. Bottled unfiltered and unfined 5 months later.
From the Producer: The Koth family has been farming the Mokelumne Glen vineyard since the early 1960’s when they bought the property, which was planted in classic Lodi fashion to Zinfandel. After a revelation about their heritage as it related to farming and the discovery of unfamiliar wines consumed in Germany, they decided to pull out all of the old vines and a pear orchard in order to focus on raising wines from unique German and Austrian varieties. The vineyard blocks are mostly Kerner, Riesling and Spatburgunder. To a lesser degree is Blaufränkisch and Dornfelder. The budwood comes from their library block dubbed ‘The German Collection’ contains 52 unique varieties. This acre block was offered to us in 2023 and we jumped at the chance to try our hand at a true American Gemischter Satz. We picked all of the fruit on August 26. Several varieties were very ripe while others were still quite tart.
From the Importer Selection Massale: Haarmeyer Wine Cellars is a family team - Craig, Alex, Kelly, and Marian Haarmeyer. Started in 2008 with fruit from a vineyard near the town of Galt, CA, Craig was interested primarily in making wines using Spanish and Portuguese varieties, mainly because of the dry climate and the proximity of this vineyard to his home and winery in Sacramento, CA. He felt the place seemed right for the numerous varieties of sun loving, hardy grapes planted there. This led him to consider other sites and he noticed how the wines could define and express the terroir of the region. Soon he began using the phrase "Sacramento terroir" to describe his early efforts.
Their primary focus is on Chenin Blanc and how it expresses itself, the vineyard, and the cellar. As wine drinkers they gravitate to Chenin Blanc wines irrespective of origin - Classic Loire Valley wines, Savennières in particular, and South African old vine wines are constant reference points. The way Chenin can manifest itself is miriad and compelling. It has naturally high acidity and handles oxidative aging in such a way that the wines are refreshing and sour in their youth and nutty and complex in their old age. Chenin also seems to always express its varietal characteristics and its terroir. Chenin’s Chenin-ness shows itself even when the influence of the cellar is present. This grape is fascinating and their journey starts and ends there. They are committed to exploring Northern California terroirs through the lens of Chenin Blanc.
They have six vineyard sources for Chenin: three in the Sacramento River Delta, one in eastern Lodi, and two in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. They work only with farmers who raise organic fruit and in the cellar they do as little modern processing as possible. Every lot is foot trodden and basket pressed without any corrections to chemistry or sulfur additions. The juice is exposed to oxygen and racked to neutral large format barrels and casks for unaided, native yeast fermentations. The wine remains in its fermentation vessel until it is assembled for bottling. All wines are ML complete and bottled without fining or filtering.Chenin may rule the roost but they also make a very special old vine Riesling, a Nebbiolo, and Zinfandel.