2024 QUPE SAUVIGNON BLANC
Our 2024 Sauvignon Blanc displays classic cool-climate coastal notes of zesty green apple, lime zest and juicy melon and subtle guava notes. On the palate, the bright, lively acidity brings out citrus and tart green apple notes, with a long lingering finish. Think Sancerre here, more than your typical California Sauvignon Blanc.
VINEYARD
Qupé has been crafting cool-climate wines from Santa Barbara County for over 40 years. We know where the best fruit comes from and we leverage our long-term relationships to have our vineyard partners farm specific sites to our requirements – low yield, clean, unblemished fruit, all certified sustainable. We want this wine to speak of its cool-climate origins, with 100% of the fruit coming from our Estate, in the heart of Los Olivos, along Foxen Canyon Road. Our uplifted, sandy soils encourage our grapes to be tiny, yet filled with flavor. We intentionally harvest our Sauvignon Blanc grapes at di erent ripeness levels to maximize the full flavor profile of this amazing grape. The early picks focus on laser sharp acidity and cool-climate green apple and lime notes, while the later picks arrive with slightly less acid and more tropical notes like guava and melon. We think the final blend is an amazing representation of our Estate’s potential to grow world class Sauvignon Blanc.
WINEMAKING
As with all our wines, this Sauvignon Blanc was crafted with traditional methods in our modern, state of the art winery: hand harvesting at night to benefit from our cold evenings, small picks at a broad spectrum of ripeness to ensure maximum complexity, whole cluster pressing, cold settling in temperature controlled stainless tanks for 24-48 hours, then racked to a small temperature controlled tank for a slow, cold fermentation. After about 30 days, the wine is racked again to older, neutral Burgundy barrels for aging another 7 months. Malolactic fermentation is inhibited to retain a bit of salty, malic acid for freshness and ageability. As bottling approaches, the wine is clean racked under
nitrogen to tank for final blending and resting before bottling using our own bottling equipment.
"Lively, this is full of white grapefruit, Granny Smith apples and passion fruit. Lime leaves sweep through the mouthwatering, mineral-tinged finish." 89 Points James Suckling