WINEMAKER NOTES 2019 Bailarin Blanc is a refreshing sipper that has enough structure to pair perfectly with seafood and pasta dishes. This wine illustrates the beauty of Sonoma County with plenty of citrus tones up front and tropical flavors in the background. The nose enchants you with lemon peel, pineapple, tropical kiwi and lime, toasted almonds, orange blossoms, lemon meringue, all coming together to build a beautiful bouquet. While on the palate, Meyer lemon and citrus tones, tangerine, mango, guava, freshly shaved nutmeg, starfruit, and ripe melon. Clean and balanced acidity this wine will be sure to be a crowd pleaser on warmer afternoons. 

FRUIT SOURCE

The Indian Springs Ranch Vineyard is located in the Sonoma Valley.  The Sauvignon Blanc Vineyard is planted on a north facing rocky river terrace slope.  The soils in this vineyard are from the Glen Ellen alluvial formation.  The FPMS 01 clone selected for this vineyard has a long history tracing back to 1880’s when the El Mocho vineyard was first planted with clippings from the famed Chateau d’ Yquem Sauvignon Blanc Vineyards.  This clone is very unique and responds well to the alluvial soils in the Sonoma Valley. The Semillon for this blend comes from the same vineyards, though it is located more on the valley floor just below a pond on the property.  It is the lowest part of the vineyards that we feel is superb for the Semillon.  We chose Semillon to blend with Sauvignon Blanc to create a broader wine on the palate with more viscosity than you get with 100% Sauvignon Blanc.

VINTAGE NOTES

2019 provided Sonoma County with a nearly ideal growing season.  It all started out with a long winter, bringing and abundance of rain that went well into spring. This resulted in a late bloom and slower but longer growing season which led to longer hang times for the grape bunches with more even ripeness throughout the vineyards. We were about 2 weeks behind average expected harvest dates. The pros to this was that we retained more natural acidity in the grapes and were able to capture more of our late summer sunshine to develop flavors. The vintage proved to bring some stellar grapes through the door and produced some quality wines packed with lots of fruit flavors and bright, fresh acidity. The fires of 2019 did not affect any of our wines as we were fully in tank and barrel by the time they arrived. 

WINEMAKING TECHNIQUES

Fruit is picked early morning and delivered to the winery nice and cold. The fruit is then placed whole cluster into a bladder press and pressed gently for 3 hours into a stainless-steel tank for cold settling overnight. We then inoculated the tank and barrel it down into a mixture of stainless-steel drums and oak barrels. It is fermented under temperature control cold room, to ensure a slow fermentation to maximize the fruit structure and to make sure it will be retained and not drop out once racked off the lees post fermentation. The wine is racked twice post fermentation and blended to increase clarity, harmonize together, and bottled 4 months later. 

THE WINERY

Bailarín Cellars was created in 2014 by a collective of family and friends, each following their respective passions. Together we focus on producing small lots of handcrafted wines from unique vineyard sources. We are proud to share the fruits of our labor and love with you.