Sunset Hills Dawn Sparkling NV
| Country: | United States |
| Region: | Virginia |
| Winery: | Sunset Hills |
Sunset Hills Cabernet Franc is made from Cabernet Franc 80%, Petit Verdot 18%, Merlot 2%
Ripe red cherry, black plum, and hazelnut bring this medium bodied wine to the table. Elegant tannins and subtle toasty notes round out the finish.
The base for the Cabernet Franc is from the Shenandoah Vineyard site, which is typically cooler than the other sites offering bright acidity and red fruit characteristics. Hand picked, chilled, destemmed to bins and tanks for fermentation. Fermentation 6-12 days. 15 years old vines.
Sunset Hills Mosaic Red Blend is made from Merlot 23.5%, Cabernet Franc 58%, Petit Verdot 17.7%
Dark tobacco and leather alongside cooked blueberry and plum. The structure is solid leading to an even finish.
Sunset Hills Mosaic Red Blend is made from Merlot 23.5%, Cabernet Franc 58%, Petit Verdot 17.7%
Dark tobacco and leather alongside cooked blueberry and plum. The structure is solid leading to an even finish.
Sunset Hills Red is made from 77% Cabernet Franc, 9% Tannat, 8% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon
Notes of brambled blackberry, raspberry, plum, and forest floor. Light in body, leaning on acidity rather than tannins. Youthful and vibrant!
The lighter style that Sunset Red offers widens the scope of the wines here at Sunset Hills Vineyard. Delicate and youthful, the structure of the Sunset Red is carried by its acidity and bright fruit notes, rather than heavy oak or tannins. We want this wine to be enjoyed young—with the fruit notes still bright and vibrant.
Sunset Hills Shenandoah Springs Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
This is our first release of a clone-specific wine for Sunset Hills. The goal is to show you a specific terroir, one that year after year delivers excellent fruit quality. I chose clone 96 for its complexity both in ripening and barrel aging. During ripening, the fruit has notes of pineapple and pear with great acidity. I saw this wine as a chance to highlight not only the vineyard, but how detailed we can get in growing and making wine.
100% Chardonnay:
75% Clone 96
20% Clone 76
5% Clone 17
Notes of light honeysuckle, Asian pear, raw almond, and lemon custard. Medium body and medium acid.
Pear, Pink Lady apple, and honeysuckle plant. A hint of sweetness to balance the acidity. Overall and super light wine!
Traminette, one of the hybrid grapes we grow is stellar in the vineyard. Picked early to avoid any overwhelming aromatics. It is consistent and produces a crisp, light wine.Handling: Hand-picked, chilled, destemmed. Skin: None. Fermentation 100% stainless steel. 10 - 15 years old vines.
This is a very exciting release for us: our first sparkling wine. Floral; full of peach, pear, white flower, melon, apple. Very aromatic and fresh. Medium-bodied and elegant. Early in the 2013 season, while thinking about our Chambourcin block, I started thinking that the primary chemistry of early-picked Chambourcin fit the bill for a sparkling wine, with regard to the rate at which tartaric acid and sugars respectively fall and rise during ripening. Additionally, the bright cherry/raspberry/spice aromatics of our Chambourcin rose seemed to lend themselves to a sparkling wine. So we went for it, producing the wine in the traditional method, hand-riddling and hand-disgorging. Dawn pairs well with asparagus and avocado salad, beet risotto, roated squash, chicken sofrito, and linguini!
Sunset Hills Vineyard, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, produces award winning, 100% Virginia wines from our Amish restored, historic winery. From the planting of the first vines in 1999, Mike and Diane Canney, owners of Sunset Hills Vineyard, had a vision of making fine wine of the highest quality in a manner which was gentle on the land. That vision is reflected in the sustainable farming practices employed today.
The original Sunset Hills was a very large and beautiful farm that later became Reston Virginia. Diane and I used to work very long hours in office buildings in Reston, looking out over the scenic landscape, dreaming that one day we would have a beautiful farm like that. Years later, after searching to find the perfect place for our vineyards and winery, Diane and I bought our first farm. Each evening, we would watch the sun set over the Blue Ridge mountains, talking about what grapes to plant, where to plant them and how we would do whatever it took to maximize quality. In 1999, the first vineyard was planted and we needed a name. We knew it could only have the name of the farm we had admired years before. Today, many of our customers and friends enjoy our wines on the 150 yr old farm, and enjoy watching the sun set over mountains. Sunset Hills Vineyard has been the perfect name!
After graduating from UVA in 2011, it was Corry’s love of travel that first led her to the wine industry. She soon found herself working the harvest in far off places like New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and France, with a few closer to home in Oregon and Virginia. She called both King Family and Blenheim Vineyards in Charlottesville home for a while, working harvests and spending time in the lab learning the ins and outs on winemaking, but it was her stretch in Oregon that showed her this wasn’t just a job, but a way of life. Although she’s been tempted by opportunities in Sonoma, CA, her desire to start her career as a winemaker in her home state of Virginia has kept her planted close to home. It excites her that Virginia is still in the early experimental phase of winemaking, and she really believes in the quality of wine that can be crafted here. She’s already experimenting in the cellar, and we can’t wait to see the fruits of her labor as they unfold in the future. If she’s not drinking a Virginia Chardonnay, you’ll most likely find her with a glass of Pinot Noir in her hand. When she’s not in the cellar, she’s likely out hiking, playing her cello or gone for a run.
Vineyard names:
Sunset Hills (18 acres), 50 West (7 acres), Shenandoah Springs (23 acres), Sherman Ridge (13 acres), Catesby (17 acres).
Age of the vines: 1 - 20 years
- back
Begude Bandol Blanc is made from 80% Clairette, 10% Rolle and 10% Ugni Blanc
Pale yellow color with bright highlights.
Expressive aromas of citrus fruits. Juicy, fresh, fleshy and opulent on the palate, it is precise and elegant with ample texture, good acidity and great balance fruit /alcohol.
Organic Agriculture
Yields: 20hl/ha
Average age of the vines: 30 years
Manual harvest in small crates.
Double sorting, total destemming.
Molding and pressing of the grapes prior to alcoholic fermentation.
Vinification in vats and aging in oak barrels (one-year old) for 6 months.
Pairs well with white meats, grilled fish, shellfish, vegetables, tapenades. Exotic and Mediterranean cuisine.
Mordoree Chateauneuf-du-Pape La Reine des Bois is made from 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre, 5% Syrah, 2.5% Vaccarese, 2.5% Counoise.
60 year-old vines
Aged in 50% oak barrels.
Deep ruby red color, red fruits aromas leading to leather, black truffles and coffee notes. Fat and concentrated on the palate, with liquorice and dark fruit flavors.
Pairs well with game and red meats, cheeses.
Review:
"The saturated purple-hued 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée De La Reine Des Bois is another brilliant wine from this estate. Made from 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre, and 5% Syrah and Vaccarèse (as well as a few other varieties) brought up in 80% stainless steel and 20% old barrels, it offers an extraordinary bouquet of blackcurrants, chocolaty herbs, ground pepper, and graphite. Deep, rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, it stays pure and flawlessly balanced on the palate, with silky tannins. I love everything about this wine, which reminds me of a slightly plusher example of the 2010. It has some upfront charm today and will continue drinking brilliantly for 15 years or more."
- Jeb Dunnuck (August 16th 2019), 97 pts
