2021 Cimarron Vineyard Picpoul Blanc

Since we opened the winery in 2015, our Picpoul Blanc has been one of our most popular wines. It usually sells out in a couple months. That’s mostly because it’s delicious, but also because we’d only been able to source one ton (60 cases) of this varietal from Cimarron Vineyard every year. Imagine our delight when we recently discovered that Cimarron Vineyard Manager Juan Alba has his own planting of Picpoul just coming on line. This year we had so much Picpoul we made it in two styles. While our Dos Amigos Vineyard Picpoul was picked a little riper and fermented completely to dryness, we decided to keep making our little 1-ton allocation from Cimarron Vineyard the same way we always have been. We picked this fruit fairly early (20 Brix) and arrested the fermentation with about 1/3% residual sugar to balance the impact of the grape’s high acid. This remarkably light and refreshing wine is more reminiscent of a lemon-lime soda pop than our typical white wines. It’s also a perfect pairing for a hot AZ day – which is probably why it always sells out so fast…