Originally hailing from Germany, and the offspring of the noble Riesling grape, Kerner is an aromatic white variety capable of producing compelling white wines with an intensely floral bouquet, bright acidity and plenty of citrus and balance on the palate. We foot-tread the grapes and allowed them to soak on skins for a few hours before pressing, and fermented and aged the wine in barrel on original lees for 11 months.
Maceration is a white blend we developed to allow for creativity, experimentation, and flexibility in the cellar. With the Gruner Veltliner, Friulano and Kerner all being prime candidates for skin contact, we are trialing and employing different methods to study the wide range of expressions we can achieve with these grapes on our site.
While rosé production has not been a “standard” for the Johan repertoire, 2020 presented the opportunity to make the Austrian-inspired rosé we have dreamt of since grafting the varieties into the vineyard. It turned out so great that we have continued to play and experiment to make a textural and compelling rosé, each year a little different from the last.
The varietal character of Grüner Veltliner is intense and highly unique. There is a range of fruit maturity with which this grape can be harvested to lend itself to an array of different styles. The resulting wines can vary from lean and herbal, to highly textured and exotic smelling, depending on the vineyards ability to ripen the fruit. Our site produces fruit that wants to be rich and exotic, producing significant texture while retaining focus and balance.
Melon de Bourgogne is a grape variety most notably planted in the Loire region in France. Our estate-grown Melon grapes were destemmed and left to soak on the skins for 36 hours before pressing. Fermented by native yeasts in neutral barrels, the wine aged “sur lie” for 10 months before heading to bottle.
Murmuration refers to the phenomenon that results when hundreds, sometimes thousands, of starlings fly in swooping, intricately coordinated patterns through the sky. When we witness this magnificent event in the vineyard, it reminds us that a great blend is a collective reflection of the sum of all parts, as opposed to any one part on it’s own.
The Jazzy Juice philosophy came from a desire to make a juicy and bright, lighter-bodied red wine. To do this, we flip the skin-to-juice ratio of the fermentations, by direct pressing the majority of the grapes and floating some clusters and berries in the juice during fermentation to bring a touch of color and tannin to the wine. The Jazzy Juice label is always an ode to our harvest team each vintage, including everyone who came together to make it all happen!
The 2021 Melon Pét-Nat is unbridled yet soft, with more of a frizzante style bubble profile this vintage. After a short 3-hour maceration on the skins, extracting phenolics and golden gifts from the ripe skin, we pressed and slowly fermented the juice in tank before bottling in Spring of 2022.
Pétillant Naturel (or "Pét-Nat") is a method of producing sparkling wine, also referred to as “Methode Ancestrale”, where the carbonation occurs from bottling the wine during the primary, alcoholic fermentation – in order to capture the carbon dioxide that is being naturally released.
