
Grapes: 30% Merlot Grapes, 70% Pippins Apples
Region : Merlot from Santa Cruz Mountains, Pippins apples from Corralitos
Vintage: 2021
Soils: Limestone
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: The Merlot was picked and allowed to begin a native fermentation. Two days later, freshly pressed Pippins juice was added to the grapes and the two were allowed to co-ferment. Regular pump overs were utilized to keep the fermentation happy.
Aging: Rested sur lie in stainless for 2 months, before being racked to neutral French oak barrels for an additional 6 months aging. In the spring, an organic sugar dosage was added for effervescence, and hand bottled under crown cap. Allowed to carbonate and reach full dryness over the warmer summer months.
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfuring: 20ppm
Notes from the Importer: The Florèz winery is located in a region named Corralitos in Santa Cruz County. Historically, Corralitos has famously been an apple-producing region, and the winery is a retrofit within an apple cold store building on an orchard. Needless to say, I am regularly asked if I make cider. While not my primary interest, in 2021 I invited a friend and cider maker Robby Honda of Tanuki Cider to work on a collaborative project to make a SC Cider Wine hybrid. Thus flrz x nuki (Florez Wines ft. Tanuki Ciders) was born. Labeling rules exclude us from presenting varieties and vintage on the label.