The Somos boys wanted to dial this vintage up a bit in volume (as the demand far outstripped the supply) as well as style. It remains an approachable and ‘less challenging’ orange wine, hence the ‘little orange’ moniker, but with a bit more texture and acid than previous releases. Ben & Mauricio have again selected Verdelho from the biodynamically farmed Sentier Block of Gemtree’s vineyard in McLaren Flat. 2021 really has a lot of density in the fruit and is apparent even further with a bit of skin contact.
The fruit was picked quite cold and quickly destemmed at the winery. It was fermented without any additions and entirely on the skins with half of the fermentation being pressed to old barrels after 30 days and the remaining half being sealed in tank and left on skins for half of a year. The barreled portion had its lees stirred nightly for a month giving a lot of creamy texture as well as a citrusy and fresh notes while the tannic, structure, and spicy gingery tones of the wine came from the six-month skin contact portion. The lots were blended to tank and bottled without fining or filtration and just a small addition of sulfur.