AROMA: finger lime, tangerine oil, honeysuckle
FLAVOR: green apple, fresh oregano, wet stone
FOOD PAIRINGS: potato leek chowder, bratwurst & kraut, tempura'd vegetables
VINIFICATION: 1.77 T of pristine Grüner Veltliner was hand-picked on Sept 17th. The fruit was crushed and sent directly-to-press. The juice was intentionally oxidized and cold fermented on wild yeasts in stainless steel barrels + one neutral puncheon. Aged sur-lees for 5-months. Bottled without fining or filtration.
SITE: Kick-on Ranch is 14-miles from the Pacific Ocean in the East/West running Los Alamos Valley. Cold ocean breezes ensure slow and even ripening. Soils are grey sandy loam, low in nutrients, and produce lower yielding vines. Gruner material is Davis Clone 1 and was grafted in 2012 onto some Pinot Gris vines (planted in 2000 on 101-14 rootstock). Our section of the vineyard is farmed organically by Graham Tatomer.
NOTES: Kick On Ranch! This place has really challenged us. First off, it's far from our base of operations in Sonoma County. About a 6-hour drive from the winery. Second, there hasn't been a full time dedicated crew out there so getting timely reports and samples can be difficult. We have been relying on our friend Graham Tatomer's good will to peel off a few bins when possible. He was the visionary who selected this cold, windy site just north of Vanderberg Air Force Base and we always respect the chain of command! A couple of challenging vintages saw us skipping vintages outright (once due to extremely low yields, and again due to an early rain / botrytis bloom). In vintage 2024, all the stars aligned and we brought home some remarkably clean fruit with ideal chemistry. We liked the wine so much in fact that we asked Graham to faciliate a meeting with the property owners and a path to our own grape contract at Kick On. In the spring 2025, the grafts went in. LIOCO now has 1-acre of Gruner that is ours. The future (and this wine) are bright!
