Wolffer Diosa Technical Info

2013 will be remembered as an epic vintage for Long Island, comparable to the greatest vintages of the world's greatest wine regions. Summer started hot and, by season's end, conditions were moderate but sunny and completely rainless into fall. In fact, it was one of the driest summers on record. With this absence of rain, our vines produced amazingly robust, healthy fruit ideal to make fruit-driven wines with good concentration.

 

All the grapes for this dessert wine were hand-picked from six specifically selected lots starting September 17, 2013, with Pinot Gris and finishing on October 11 with chardonnay. The grapes were immediately transported in their 30-pound picking boxes into a commercial freezer and stored at 11° F until frozen. The frozen fruit was pressed, yielding very concentrated, lush juice. The juice was fined, well-settled then fermented 100% in stainless steel tanks. The fermentation went slow (it took just under two months to complete) at a cool 59° F. When the perfect balance between the sugar and alcohol was reached, the wine was chilled and racked to stop the fermentation. The wine stayed two months sur lie, and malolactic fermentation was strictly avoided to retain its vibrant acidity and pure fruit character. It was filtered in April and bottled on April 4, 2014, resulting in 681 cases of 375 ml bottles and two cases of magnums (1.5 L).

 

Analysis