Breaking Bread, Marmalade Orange Wine, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County

Erik Miller, winemaker at Kokomo Winery in Sonoma, California, has a side project diving into the more experimental winemaking ideas — like this skin-contact blend of Muscat Blanc, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. This wine has bright aromatics of grapefruit, orange peel, and a hint of white pepper on the nose. There's excellent balance on the palate with good acidity and juicy, abundant fruit. The finish has just the right touch of bitterness to keep things interesting

Varietal: 70% Muscat Blanc, 15% Chardonnay, 15% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Dry Creek Valley

Fermentation: skin contact, 100% barrel fermented in neutral French Oak

Winemaker Notes: equal parts of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc to the dominant Muscat Blanc and once again took a delicate approach. The Chardonnay contributed more weight and complexity to the mouthfeel, while the Sauvignon Blanc brought in more acidity and higher notes. All grapes were destemmed into the fermenter bin with zero sulfur added and we let the native yeast build up a population, which took about five days. From there we allowed it to go another five days fermenting on skins, for a total of ten days on the skins, making for more balanced phenolics.

Vineyard Description: 3/4 of an acre of Muscat Blanc planted on the valley floor of  120-acre estate property, Timber Crest Vineyard, in Dry Creek Valley. Timber Crest is 100% certified sustainable and the soil composition of this block of vineyard is Cortina gravel. The Sauvignon Blanc also comes from Timber Crest Vineyard. Sauvignon Blanc vineyard borders Dry Creek itself, directly across from the winery. The soil composition of this block is Yolo Sandy Loam and the clone is Musqué. The Chardonnay hails from our other estate vineyard, Mizany. Mizany Vineyard is just down the street from the winery and is farmed organically, currently undergoing organic certification transition through CCOF