2022 Amber Wine
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Viognier lends a floral aroma and stiffens the tannic backbone of the wine. Roussanne confirms the floral side of the wine and contributes spice and herb elements, as well as acid and finer tannins. Marsanne moderates the tannin of the Viognier and amps up the fruit on the palate. This is a traditional use for Marsanne, which was said in older winemaking texts to “sweeten” the other Rhone white varieties in a blend. I suspect this doesn’t literally mean adding sugar, but in the context of pre-industrial winemaking it probably refers to Marsanne’s ability to soak up tannin and acid from the other varieties and add a subtle honeyed aroma. Skin contact during fermentation steers the fruit expression away from the expected pear and adds a peachy, juicy quality. There is a little snap of tannin in the finish, which reminds me of peach iced tea. This is a versatile pairing wine that has the structure to cut through moderately heavy dishes and has aromatic complexity to hold interest even along side foods with lots of herbs and spices, e.g., many North African, Greek, and Eastern Mediterranean dishes.
The earliest known references to Viognier, Roussanne, and Marsanne in the northern Rhone valley derive from 1781, meaning that the grapes were selected and established significantly before 1781—likely hundreds of years earlier.
The Marginalia 2022 Amber Wine is an attempt to imagine what pre-industrial white grape wines from the northern Rhone valley might have been like. Pre-industrial white grape wines would always have experienced some degree of skin contact—certainly more than a modern whole-cluster pressed white wine. Especially in the case of basic country wines, the sort of wines consumed young and primarily within the region, skin contact would have extended into fermentation, not just through a long cycle of pre-fermentation maceration. (Indeed, without active temperature control, there is really not a reliable way to have skin contact before the onset of fermentation, nor would it be desirable—rapid onset of active fermentation is the best protection against spoilage.) Fermentative skin contact would have substantially increased press yield in more primitive presses, and so it seems likely that at least some wine would have been produced in a style that we would today call an Orange or Amber wine.
All the fruit for this wine came from the young Rhone white blocks at Les Collines Vineyard. We picked early to retain acid and avoid some of the more candied aromas associated with later picked Rhone-variety whites. The stems were still very artichoke-bitter at picking, so we destemmed the fruit and cofermented the three varieties in a stainless bin at ambient barrel room temperatures (about 55 degrees). The temperature rose to just over 70 degrees by the middle of fermentation, which allowed for gentle extraction—important in managing the potentially coarse tannin of Viognier. We pressed just as the wine closed in on zero brix, and the wine fermented through the last few grams of sugar in barrel. The wine rested on lees through malolactic conversion and then had a few weeks of stirring before sitting undisturbed for the remainder of the time until bottling. Total time in barrel (neutral French oak) was about 7 months.
| Vintage | 2022 |
| Varietal | Rhone White Grape Blend |
| Varietal Composition | 30% Marsanne
29% Roussanne
41% Viognier |
| Appellation | Walla Walla AVA |
| Vineyard | Les Collines Vineyard |
| Alcohol | 11.20% |
| Wine Style | Amber Wine (Orange Wine) |
| Volume | 750 ml |
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