Perfume • Honeysuckle • Rich
Best enjoyed at 42° – 51°F
Suggested drink window: drink now - 2028 - 2032
The Gewurztraminer from our estate Valois Vineyard sits on 3-15% slopes on the east side of Seneca Lake and has two distinct soil types, Howard gravelly loam and Valois gravelly silt loam. Both types are very deep, well-drained soils formed from glacial deposits with a wide range of particle sizes that are angularly fragmented. The Howard series was formed from medium textured glacial outwash, and the Valois series is made from shale, sandstone, and siltstone deposits.
This vintage was handpicked by the Damiani vineyard and cellar team, sorted by hand into a macro bin where it was foot-stomped and stored in a refrigerator. After 48 hours on the skins, the fruit was pressed for 2 hours to 1.5 bar (~22 psi) to a stainless-steel tank where it settled and was racked to two neutral French oak 228L barrels for a two-month fermentation. During an 11-month barrel ageing, the lees were stirred twice per month for 5 months and wine received minimal effective sulfur dioxide. The wine was racked, sterile filtered, and bottled in August 2024.
Winemaking
• 100% Gewürztraminer
• Single Vineyard Series: Estate Valois Vineyard
• Soil: Howard & Valois gravelly silt loam
• Harvested October 2nd
• Unfined & sterile filtered
• Vegan
• Certified New York Sustainable Winegrowing
• Brix: 21.0° │ pH: 3.64 │ TA: 6.0 g/L │ RS: 0.3 │ ABV: 12.2 │ Bottling Date: 8/12/2024
• Cases Produced: 45
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Single Vineyard Series
The Finger Lakes contains a mosaic of soil types, slope, aspect to the sun, and microclimate giving each vineyard its own identity. While this variety adds multiple dimensions to our wines, it also presents an opportunity for us to further celebrate the land in our Single Vineyard Series. We bottle the special flavors produced from one particular vineyard in years when the fruit is of intense quality and such distinctive character that it demands to stand alone as a pure expression of terroir.
Valois Vineyard
The Gewürztraminer from our estate Valois Vineyard sits on 3-15% slopes on the east side of Seneca Lake and has two distinct soil types, Howard gravelly loam and Valois gravelly silt loam. Both types are very deep, well-drained soils formed from glacial deposits with a wide range of particle sizes that are angularly fragmented. The Howard series was formed from medium textured glacial outwash, and the Valois series is made from shale, sandstone, and siltstone deposits.
2023 Vintage Notes
As the harvest season approached, and all things pointed to 2023 being a lovely year. In the vineyards, our team worked tirelessly to ensure the cellar got to play with the best grapes possible come harvest time. Summer of 2023 was drastically different from the several previous seasons with a decent amount of rainfall, hot and humid days, but unusually cool nighttime temperatures. This means we were able to maintain a strict disease management protocol with timely shoot thinning and positioning, aggressive leaf thinning, and our hybrid organic/conventional spray program.
Many have asked about the frost event in late May and how we fared. In the days following the event, we were very nervous as we saw many small shoots go from green to black. After a few weeks, the vines started to push their secondary shoots and subsequent clusters, and we started to see life back in the hard-hit blocks. We feel very fortunate as we saw a fairly normal season as far as yields went, but we know some of our neighbors did not fare as well. These moments help reinforce the strength of the agricultural community and how we as consumers and neighbors can all help one another during challenging times by buying local, supporting small businesses, and always keeping a positive attitude!
