2018 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc

The 2018 Hill Family Estate Sauvignon Blanc is from the Windy Flats vineyard in the western foothills of Wooden Valley. It is in a dramatic landscape of rock and cliff, with just enough soil between the marl out crops for a few acres of vines. Doug Hill chose three clones and carefully selected the rootstalks for this vineyard so that it offers highly aromatic aromas and layers of complexity and interest. 2018 was a moderate growing year, with average rain in the winter, and cooler weather in August and September. We brought in the Windy Flats Sauvignon Blanc Musque block on August 31, and the Italian clone and the Clone 1 on September 9. The lots were divided up into whole cluster press, skin maceration then pressing, with press lots fermented separately. The Sauvignon Blanc lots were split and barrel fermented, half with VL3 and half with Delta yeast, finishing fermentation in about three weeks with lovely aroma expression. Blending these lots carefully along with Semillon also from Windy Flats has given this wine layers of expression and complexity.