Rigour & Whimsy 2021 Bifrost Riesling/Gew 750ml

Here is our spacetime traveling, swashbuckling, entry level amber wine, back again in a whole new guise. While the grape varieties continue to change, the basic elevage of this wine has stayed relatively constant. We destem, ferment in stainless steel, and have a short maturation time in older oak. Of note this time around, we have returned to a co-fermentation, similar to the 2018 Flux Capacitor, but with only 2 grape varieties this time instead of 5 or 6! We also shortened the skin maceration time by half, as this wine was starting to taste by far the most tannic and bold of all our entry level amber wines at only 1 month on skins. Boy howdy, am I loving the assertive tannins and integrated, bitter, amaro-type notes on this wine!

After a few vintages of very delicate amber wines it is a fun change to have worked with some varieties that wanted to show the more muscular side of the style. This co-ferment of roughly equal parts Riesling (55%) and Gewürztraminer (45%) was destemmed and fermented in a 3000L stainless steel tank for 1 month. It was then pressed and settled for 24 hours before being racked into 4 older puncheons. It was barrel aged for 6 months before bottling unfined and unfiltered in April 2022.