2017 Sparkling Muscat Ottonel

This very pale golden straw bubbly is nearly bone dry, has medium to small bubbles, and is very aromatic and flavorful. As with still-made Muscat Ottonel wine, the predominant character found here is freshly crushed mint leaves and enticing orange blossoms. It’s still quite a youthful wine and likely will be enjoyable for at least 5-7 more years. Enjoy with a rich, creamy spring pea risotto, pan-seared scallops with a citrus glaze, pork chops and of course, all on its own toasting with loved ones.   

A total of 2.25 tons of estate grown Muscat Ottonel grapes was harvested by hand on October 2, 2017.  They had 18.2 brix natural sugar, 5.6 g/l TA, and a 3.31 pH. The grapes were crushed, pressed, inoculated with yeast and fermented for 18 days at 58-59 degrees. The wine was cold and heat stabilized, filtered,a yeast propagation was added and the wine was bottled into tirage. The finished wine was disgorged on October 2, 2019 and a dosage was added. The finished bubbly has 6.7 g/l TA, a 2.88 pH, 0.2% residual sugar and 13% alcohol. 138 cases were produced.

We’ve produced estate grown dry, semi-dry and sweet versions of still Muscat Ottonel since the early 1980s. We were one of the first in the region to produce Muscat Ottonel. Unfortunately, it remains a relatively obscure varietal made by few wineries. It’s a delicate white wine with a beautiful perfumed character reminiscent of fresh orange blossoms and crushed mint. As I sipped on a glass of our 2015 vintage a few years ago, it struck me how gorgeous the wine could potentially be as a sparkling wine. In 2017, for the first time ever, we decided to harvest the Muscat Ottonel for a sparkling wine. We produced this using the traditional methode champenoise, aged for just a year on the lees and then disgorged. The finished wine is bone dry (0.2% residual sugar) and, as expected, it’s absolutely delicious!