2020 Barbera, Gunkel Vineyards

2023 Cascadia International Wine Competition - Gold, Best in Class

Throughout harvest, Winemaker Richard Batchelor worked closely with local growers and visited each vineyard to taste for maturity and ripeness to determine the precise moment to pick the fruit. Grapes were hand-harvested during the cool hours of the morning to preserve bright fruit notes. Each lot underwent a five day pre-fermentation cold soak before the tank was allowed to go through a native fermentation to dryness lasting roughly 21 days. Each lot was fermented separately and then blended before bottling to allow the tannins to meld together. To craft this wine, only the free run juice was collected and no press fraction was blended. The wine was then barrel aged for 18 months in new French oak. For the first year this wine was stirred in barrel on its lees and racked when necessary to soften the tannins. After the first 12 months the wine was racked off the lees for clarity before blending and bottling.