Hello & Happy Autumn Cellar Society Members,
I hope everyone is enjoying the changing weather as we look forward to a festive fall season.
As I write this, we are about 10 days away from the end of harvest here at the winery. This year, we experienced a very steady ripening season in the vineyards due to an early bud break in the spring followed by a relatively low number of heatwaves over the summer and steady temperatures. This led to many varietals being ready to pick slightly earlier than what we see on average in our area. We also noticed our fermentations were ready for crush in a more concentrated timeframe compared to a more typically spread out harvest season. This made for a very busy September, but we will be wrapping up harvest activities about 3 weeks earlier than average.
The fruit quality has been great this year. The relatively low amount of stress we saw on the vines during the growing season allowed for full development of flavors and colors in the skins of the berries. I found myself eating more berries during crush this year because the flavors were so good.
As many of you already know, autumn is a beautiful time of year to visit the tasting room in Apple Hill. We are busy planning for a great Club Member experience during our Cellar Society Fall release party the weekend of November 1st and 2nd. I will be in attendance on Sunday the 2nd and I hope to see you there. That weekend, we are also celebrating Nevada Days. This is a great time for our Cellar Society members from Nevada to stock up on their favorite 1850 wines as club members enjoy an additional 10% off during release parties.
Until we get a chance to chat in person, I will be raising a glass of 1850 wine to you, Cellar Society members.
With gratitude,
Brian Darwazeh, Winemaker
2023 Chardonnay
Geisler Baron Vineyard, El Dorado
Geisler Baron Vineyard, El Dorado
TASTING NOTES: This chardonnay is ready for fall and winter with warm aromas of caramel green apple and popcorn. You will find flavors of fresh cut apple, lemon curd and baking spice in this opulent chardonnay with lingering flavors of ripe pineapple on the finish. This medium bodied wine is silky and mouth-coating with mouthwatering acidity.
WINEMAKING NOTES: This chardonnay was picked ripe with ample flavor development for a fruit-driven and rich wine. After pressing, the juice was fermented in three different American oak barrels using two different yeast strains to obtain more complexity. The malic acid in the resulting wine was allowed to convert to lactic acid which gives the wine a more round and soft acid profile.
AGING: After fermentation, this chardonnay aged in the same American oak barrels and was kept on the lees created from the autolyzed yeast cells of the fermentation. We stirred these lees occasionally during aging to give the wine a rich and full structure. After seven months of aging, this wine was bottled.
FOOD PAIRING: For your cheeseboards, soft aged cheeses like brie, with apple slices or dried fruit will pair well with chardonnay. Butternut squash soup or roasted winter squash are perfect fall pairings. For a light and fresh pairing, we recommend enjoying this wine with a shaved fennel and citrus salad with cranberry vinaigrette and arugula. For a richer pairing, the sweetness of corn chowder tends to play perfectly with the flavors of chardonnay. Fleshy white fish such as halibut, crab cakes, clam linguini, or even pork tenderloin with apples all are great choices to pair with this wine.
WINE SPECS
100% Chardonnay
13.4% alcohol
75 cases produced
$32 per bottle
2023 Late Harvest Zinfandel
Engbers Vineyard, Fair Play
Engbers Vineyard, Fair Play
TASTING NOTES: We love this wine’s jammy blueberry, earthy tobacco, cinnamon, and black tea notes with its balance of ripe fruit and tannins. It has concentrated flavors of graham cracker, dried strawberry, fresh blackberry, and raisins, with a silky smooth and lingering finish.
WINEMAKING NOTES: The Engbers Vineyard is a great location for producing late harvest zinfandel. It stays a little bit cooler because it is in a valley and faces east. This allows the clusters to still retain enough acidity for balance when sugars concentrate in the berries while they start to slightly dehydrate. This concentration of sugars leads to zinfandel that has developed a lot of rich and jammy flavors as well as color in the skins. During fermentation, the yeast begins to stop converting sugar to alcohol when the wine reaches around 15%. This leaves about 2% natural residual sugar in the resulting wine.
AGING: This Late Harvest Zinfandel was aged in 50% new French oak and 50% new American oak.
FOOD PAIRING: We love this style of zinfandel with our homemade zinfandel barbecue sauce on ribs or pulled pork sliders. It pairs well with a variety of smoked and grilled meats. The spice and fruit notes of this wine can balance well with the rich spices such as those in Turkish or Moroccan food. For your cheese boards, it will pair well with a variety of flavorful cheeses including Pecorino, aged cheddar, Stilton, Blue cheese, and Gorgonzola with toasted nuts and charcuterie.
WINE SPECS:
100% Zinfandel
15.2% alcohol
125 cases produced
$38 per bottle
2022 Barbera
South Fork Vineyard, Sierra Foothills
South Fork Vineyard, Sierra Foothills
TASTING NOTES: Our much-anticipated new vintage of barbera is a classic California rendition of this variety, with rich aromas of cherry pie, cola, vanilla, chocolate, clove and cranberry. On the palate it is smooth and mouth-filling with dried cherry and baking spice flavors. The classic acidity of barbera is present, balanced by hearty fruit flavors.
WINEMAKING NOTES:
The vineyard location where this barbera grew experiences the warm afternoons that are needed to develop the ripe fruit characteristics that are quintessential to an 1850 Wine Cellars barbera. The proximity to the south fork of the American River also keeps the overnight temperatures relatively low, which retains a level of acidity that is expected in barbera.
The yeast we chose for this barbera encourages full bodied structure with bold and ripe fruit flavors, which are evident in the resulting wine.
AGING:
Aged in 100% American Oak for 18 months. This oak selection enhanced the mouthfeel and fruit components of this wine with big and round notes of vanilla and butterscotch that balance the racy acidity of barbera.
FOOD PAIRING: Barbera classically pairs well with a large variety of charcuterie, with the rich fat and saltiness of cured meats balancing perfectly with the acid structure of the wine. The profile of this wine will pair well with grilled dishes like burgers, pizza or a hearty casserole, and winter stews. This is a great wine to pair with Bolognese, lasagna, classic Italian meatballs, or a creamy truffled pasta dish.
WINE SPECS:
100% Barbera
14.4% alcohol
128 cases produced
$34 per bottle
