This voluptuous wine proudly presents itself with a tropical aromatic nose full of passion fruit and crisp green apple. The palate follows the nose offering pineapple-guava over a round mouthfeel with a unique acidity that only stainless steel fermentation and aging can provide. This un-oaked Sauvignon Blanc went through 50% Malolactic fermentation in order to help retain its distinct acid profile.
Having a Friday night in? We recommend a movie, a bottle of wine, and some popcorn. What type of movie? One about wine of course! There are many movies about wine out there to choose from and on Fridays we will share one with you that we have seen and enjoyed. You get the popcorn and let Qorkz send you the wine!
What lies within the rhythm of a year?
The vines bud and grow leaves and tendrils, and are trained, cared for. They make grapes, and a small, diligent army of hands comes to carry them away. The stripped vines die back, dry and brown, and turn to brush. The brush is burned, going into the wind as a curl of smoke and into the ground as ash. This is a year in Burgundy.
Experience the year with French wine importer Martine Saunier as your guide. The film is in four season-sections, and plays out against that backdrop: spring showers, drought, heat wave, hail and storms, harvest moons and the damp cold of winter. Each vintage is a time capsule, a bottled piece of history of a very specific year, with its particular weather pattern, its crises and its triumphs. It all goes in, whether you want it to or not, and 2011 was full of drama.
In the film, we get to know our half-dozen wine-makers: they are artists, whose personalities shape the flavor and style of the wines they lovingly craft. There is joy, fear, anxiety, triumph, and laughter in their experiences. With the Morey-Coffinets, we meet three generations of wine-makers, and little two-year-old Celeste, the first of the fourth generation.
In Lalou Bize-Leroy, we meet the uncrowned Queen of Burgundy – now in her eighties, still involved in every detail of her winemaking, creator of some of the best-renowned and most famous wines on earth.
We get a sense of the deep history involved. Though they use many of the latest equipment and techniques, the secrets of winemaking in Burgundy and the discovery of the best terroirs (and how to exploit them) have been developed since Roman times. Indeed, the Cistercian monks kept the art alive during the Dark Ages (500-1000) and developed a whole industry in the Middle Ages: their central wine-making HQ, Clos de Vougeot, still exists, and is the location for one of the central scenes of the film: a great mid-summer banquet.
Burgundy is exquisitely beautiful. Even if it had no vines, it would be a favorite destination. Its ancient villages, its gentle hillsides, valleys and streams give the impression of a fairy-tale land. Yet it's here that we find what is arguably the most valuable agricultural land on earth: tiny vineyards no bigger than many people's backyards produce wine that sells for thousands of dollars a bottle...
This is a year that went into the bottle and onto film. This is our capsule. The grapes grow. The grapes die away. What is left always in the frame is a way of life. - A Year In Burgundy Official Website.
Right away you get a sense of how incredibly important wine is in Burgundy. While you get to meet many winemakers and important members of the Burgundy wine community, the wine remains the star. Watching this film you get to experience all the essential elements of winemaking as they take us on a journey from vine to bottle. You also get an understanding of how fiercely protective the different winemakers and vineyard managers are over their craft and their style of growing the vines. To trim or not to trim? Pick before or after the rain? Hand sort or machine sort? Make a mistake in any one of these decisions and the vintage might not meet the lofty standards of Burgundian wine.
Part travel film and documentary, A Year In Burgundy lets you visit the French countryside without ever leaving the comfort of your living room while giving you a behind the scenes tour of one of the world's best wine producing regions. We love the science behind winemaking and how it's used to combat all the challenges that nature brings to each vintage. We can greedily overindulge in this film on the battle against Botrytis, the rush to beat the rain at harvest, and what kind of effect (both good and bad) that stems, leaves, and other green tannins can have on a wine. Oh, and did I mention all the romance and picturesque setting of the French countryside? We love this film, and we're certain you'll love it too.
You think Burgundy and you think Pinot Noir. This Sabina Pinot Noir is crafted in the traditional Burgundian style making it the perfect partner to this film.
What else does Burgundy do really well? Chardonnay. Think cold, minerals, stone fruit, with good acid. This Stella Chardonnay brings you all of those elements with a touch of honeysuckle to balance that acidity.
Coombsville received its designation as an AVA in 2011. Situated on 11,000 acres, Coombsville is a sub-appellation of the Napa Valley AVA. Coombsville ranges in elevation from near sea level at the Napa River on the west to 1,900 feet at the ridge of the Vaca Mountain Range. The Coombsville soils consist of rock, gravel and, some areas are layered with volcanic ash generated from the slow erosion of nearby Mount George. Proximity to San Pablo Bay contributes cooling effects of marine air and fog occurring almost daily during the growing season, maintaining a constant cool temperature to offset the warm daily sun. This allows for a longer growing season than other Napa Valley growing regions and allows the fruit the time on the vine required to develop a strong balance of tannin and acidity. Like most of Napa Valley, the region is dominated by the production of Cabernet Sauvignon, but also produces Chardonnay, Syrah, and Pinot Noir.
Here at Qorkz we like wine, food, and sharing our experiences with other wine lovers. We are thrilled to offer our new blog Qorkscru to share the joy of wine culture, along with the great stories and products of our wineries and winemakers. Cheers from our wineries the whole Qorkz team and we hope you enjoy Qorkscru!
