Bonita Camille Champagne

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir

Vineyard: Breezy Slope Vineyard

AVA: Walla Walla Valley

Harvest Date: September 6th, 2020

Viticulture: Farmed and harvested specifically for sparkling wine

Alcohol: 12.6%

Winemaking: Produced by Méthode Champenoise, this wine underwent two fermentations after being grown, harvested and pressed for sparkling wine. The primary fermentation took place in a combination of oak and stainless barrels and left sur lie for 9 months of initial aging. It was then bottled and placed into tirage for second fermentation and an additional 26 months of sur lie aging, this time in the bottle you will be enjoying it from. It is that secondary fermentation in bottle that creates the natural sparkling quality of this wine. When deemed ready, it was riddled, disgorged, and closed under cork and wirehood.

Style: While our Pet Nat, sourced from the same vineyard, is more rustic in style, this Méthode Champenoise is its refined, elegant counterpart. Aromatically true to form, this wine opens with crushed chalk and oyster shells accompanied by yellow apple skin and brioche.  On the palate these aromas are still present but now joined with subtle white peach, tangerine rind, and almond blossom.  All this held tight by bright acidity kept in check by a dosage in the Extra Brut style.

Vineyard:Located at the base of Saddle Mountain in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, Breezy Slope Vineyard sits at 1,700 feet and boasts one of the highest elevations in the Walla Walla Valley AVA.  The soil is primarily shallow Palouse Silt Loam soil over basalt bedrock on a moderate to steep west-northwest facing slope.  With an average rainfall of 20” a year this vineyard site is able to dry-farm in most vintages.  Due to the elevation and west facing exposure, this site is generally 5 degrees cooler than other sites in the valley making it one of the only vineyards in Walla Walla able to grow premium Pinot Noir.