Scribe Winery 2023 Estate Sylvaner, Arrowhead Slope, Sonoma Coast

In 1858 when Emil Dresel found his way to Sonoma, he brought along vine cuttings of Riesling and Sylvaner from his family’s vineyard in Geisenheim – the first of their kind in California. He tended these grapes on the slopes we now farm at Scribe, making wine until Prohibition in 1919. In homage, we planted a single acre of Sylvaner on the farm, hoping it would do as well for us as it did for him. What resulted is one of our favorite white wines – fresh, textured and just uniquely delicious. We think Emil would be pleased.

Vintage Notes: 2023 began with a series of impressive rainstorms that saturated the soils and filled water reservoirs in January. Cold temperatures and a wet winter kept the vines in hibernation until late Spring, with bud break only starting in April. A cool Spring kept the vines in bloom for longer, and moderate Summer temperatures extended the growing season even more. This temperate growing season and moderate harvest weather gave us one of the latest ripening vintages we’ve had in the past 20 years. We began harvest on September 1st, a full 3 weeks behind the previous vintage. The weather remained steadily temperate throughout the picking season which allowed grapes to develop flavor, and a push of heat early in October encouraged lingering grapes to ripen.

Vineyard Notes: A blend of three different blocks of Sylvaner from Scribe’s estate vineyard on the west- facing slope of Arrowhead Mountain.

Winemaking Notes: Sylvaner grapes were harvested from our estate vineyard and pressed on September 15th and 20th. The juice was settled for 24 hours before being racked off to a combination of stainless steel and concrete tanks. All lots fermented cold for 15 to 20 days without undergoing malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged for 5 months in concrete and stainless- steel tanks prior to bottling.

Tasting Notes: Bergamot, jasmine, beeswax