Zeppelin Chateau d’ Abalone Verdejo (3)

Monday, October 29, 2012

What? What’s wrong? You look disappointed. Were you expecting someone more exotic? Because of my name? Well, sorry. It’s actually pronounced Ab-uh-alone-y Ver-dee-joe.

And yes, this is my chateau, or chatty-you, as I pronounce it. No, it’s not very big. It was built in the 1300s or something. People were smaller then. But it was up for auction and the price was right so I thought, hey, why not?

I know. You probably expected something a little bit more extravagant. I’m really sorry. It’s just that it’s hard to really get this stuff across in the 156 characters that singlemingle.com allows.

But hey, don’t leave just yet. There’s some cool stuff about me. For example, I have my own wine. Check it out. It’s got flavors of green apple, mineral, grapefruit and lemon with good acidity and a very long finish.

Yeah, not bad, huh? So, how about a second date…

• Varietal Composition: 89% Verdejo, 11% Poubelle Blanc**
• Alcohol: 12.7%
• pH: 3.55
• TA: 8.1 g/L
• Production: 97 cases bottled from 1.6 acres, 2nd year graftover from SB to Verdejo
• Tank fermented, aged one month in French oak puncheons, bottled

The first Verdejo* in San Luis Obispo County, and possibly the first from any coastal county in the state, this Spanish variety known for dry Rueda whites (thanks to Emile Peynaud, Stillman Brown’s first wine instructor) proved to be very low yielding and thick-skinned in his friend’s Paso Robles vineyard, so much so that an acre of vines made less than a hundred cases of wine.

** A little joke. Sauvignon Blanc (added to keep storage puncheons topped for one month)

Woot