Pyramid Valley Kerner Pinot Blanc 2015 Bibendum Wine Co

Wine to us is a genie, genius loci; our job is to coax it from its rock to bottle. Every gesture we make, in vineyard and winery, is a summons to this spirit of place. Biodynamics, hand-based viticulture, low yields, natural winemaking ‚– these are some of the means we’ve adopted better to record and transmit this voice.For example, all of our wines are fermented with their own yeast starters, cultured every year, from the vineyard itself. If wine is meant to be the bottled breath of a certain place, from a certain moment in time, then we feel that working with yeasts from that site, of that season, is an important step towards transparency and authenticity. Our cultures allow very long, very regular ferments: most of our whites ferment for more than a year. During this time, the wine is protected, so no sulphur is necessary. After so long a ferment, the wine is stable: thus most of our wines are bottled unfiltered, again with little or no sulphur.Each wine is allowed to flower as it wishes. If the Pinot Blanc stops with 4 grams RS, so be it. If the Gewurztraminer ferments to dryness, that is its choice. As my friend and hero Edmond Vatan once replied when I asked him about malolactic fermentation, ‘Pwah, le malo, si ca se fait, ca se fait. “So, at home we’ve sponsored a marriage of clay-limestone soils to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, hoping to bring to the wine world a special, new place-voice. With the Growers Collection, we are allowed to work with admired colleagues, and with sites, soils, varieties different than those at home. All of our wines are devoted to people and place; all bring rich rewards of community.Claudia and I are extraordinarily lucky to have found a family with whom to share our home, farm and vineyard. Their care, talent, kindness and heart, give essential meaning to what we do. The good energy they bring to each day allows this place, and all of its inhabitants – animal, plant, etheric – to flourish. So to all of the friends who have helped us to make a life here, we offer simple sincere, love and thanks. – Winery Note