La Garagista Farm & Winery Ci Confonde Petillant Naturel Rose

Category: Wine - Sparkling - Rose

Region: Vermont, United States

Features: Pétillant naturel

Grown in the Vergennes vineyard on clay and limestone, this Frontenac Gris is a bit of a moonstone when it comes to varieties; some years the rose is dark fuschia, other years the bubbles are pale salmon. It all depends on the season, when we have rain and when we have sun. In 2020, we had a hot dry sun all season long, a drought in fact, which resulted in a beautiful pink with just a tinge of orange, like a sunset over water. This wine is bright with acidity, a fine beaded necklace of bubbles, and floral like the best alpine strawberries.

Our wines are an expression of the season. Each vintage may herald slightly different bottlings, and even wines that we tend to make every year will show variation from vintage to vintage. This intrigues us. We work in the field and cellar as minimally as possible, as guides and companions. We believe that terroir encompasses geology, geography, microclimate, varietal, culture, and the human hand. Wine cannot make itself just like a dish of roasted carrots or an aged cow's milk cheese cannot. Our job is to accompany and support the wine throughout its life in the vineyard and our cantina.

Our fruit is handpicked and sorted, foot crushed through pigeage. We employ glass demijohns and old barrels. We hope some day to have an anfora. We rely on the native yeast found on our fruit, the result of a happy marriage of field and fermentation. We use little to no sulphite at bottling. It depends on the wine and the season. Currently in release, we have the first of the 2014 wines with more on the way.