Martha Stoumen 2024 'Honeymoon' White Blend, Redwood Valley
Item Number: 22428
UPC: None
Country: USA
Region: California
Sub Region: Mendocino
Appellation/AVA: Redwood Valley
Estate Grown Wine: No
Vintage: 2024
Grape(s): 70% Colombard / 30% Chardonnay
Type: Wine - White
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Pack: 12
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 12.5
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Vinification Notes: Later-picked Colombard and earlier-picked Chardonnay harvested separately. Both pressed immediately, settled overnight, and then racked off juice lees to ferment in neutral oak barrique. We taste the juice lees during racking to determine how much to include (discarding overly bitter-tasting lees) and then re-distribute the lees evenly across all barrels. All wines undergo native primary and malolactic fermentation. Aged in barrel, unracked on fine lees, for 6-months before blending. Once blended, the wine aged for an additional 3-months in neutral oak barrique prior to bottling. Unfined. Unfiltered. Sediment expected.
Vineyard Notes: Colombard from Ricetti Vineyard, Redwood Valley, Mendocino County; planted in 1948 (by 6-year-old Tom Ricetti and his dad); head-trained, dry farmed (non-irrigated), certified organic vineyard; gravelly loam soils. Chardonnay from Hawkeye Ranch, Redwood Valley, Mendocino County; dry-farmed (non-irrigated), practicing organic vineyard; gravelly loam soils.
Tasting Notes: Like the poetic tension of a tight chest before taking a big leap, this vintage carries both zippiness and contemplative structure. The rare old vine Colombard—lovingly tended since 1948 with maternal parentage in Chenin Blanc—brings whispers of concentrated white flowers and toasted almonds to the glass. Golden Delicious apple dances with lemon pith brightness, while that signature waxy mouthfeel wraps around subtle Jonagold-like tannins that give this wine its thoughtful backbone. This is a wine that rewards patience: decant it now or simply uncork an hour before serving. Like its lineage suggests, this vintage will deepen and evolve with another year or two of bottle age.
Martha's Notes: Now going on 75+ years of age, the head-trained and dry farmed (non-irrigated) Colombard vines at Ricetti Vineyard in Redwood Valley remain the heart of the Honeymoon wine. With age, dry farming, and continued emphasis on vine health through organic inputs, Colombard can reveal a complexity that rivals its parent, Chenin blanc. For me, the Honeymoon wine is always a layered wine, where tertiary characteristics develop alongside brightness and fruit. To achieve this, we use barrel fermentation, lees contact, and extended élevage. For 2024, Honeymoon incorporates 1970’s plantings of Chardonnay from nearby Hawkeye Ranch. Fifth-generation grape and pear farmer Pete Johnson farms this block to his excellent, organic standard.