2022 Divergent Vine 'Rollin' on Skinz'

Region: Clarksburg < California

Grape: Chenin Blanc

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic, zero-input farming; sandy loam soils inland near a river, with warm days but cool nights; destemmed whole berry ferment in tiny macro bins for 13 days then spends 13 mos old french oak; bottled unfined and unfiltered, with 15ppm added S02; 12% ABV; 62 cases
Winemaker: Aaron Bryan

Aaron's take on the wine: "The versatility and age-worthiness of orange wines is what attracted me to the style, they are unlike any other wine I've ever had.  I feel Chenin Blanc is a great variety choice for a skin contact wine because of the natural zippy acidity of the grape, contrasts beautifully with the tannin structure added by the extended skin contact during the fermentation process.  As such, this wine needs more time in barrel for those structural elements to come together in a cohesive manner.  I de-stemmed the Chenin into small macro-bins for a 13 day native ferment. I then pressed off the wine into old French Oak barrels, where the wine undertook 13 months of aging before being bottled without fining or filtration. The result is a weighty orange wine with notes of chamomile, peach tea, and cantaloupe, significant tannin and the classic bright acidity one would expect from a wine made with Chenin Blanc."

More about Divergent Vine/Conduit:
Aaron has a nontraditional winemaking background. A classically trained economist, he fell in love with the art and science of winemaking during his time at UC Santa Barbara. He continued his informal wine education (drinking a lot) in New York City, so when he
moved back to California he started making beer and wine out of his garage in SF's Mission District. Eventually, he met a group of urban winemakers on Treasure Island and started trading beer for a few barrels of cellar space, working with our friend Noel of Purity back in the day. In 2013 he decided to make the leap to full time winemaker, and has been producing Conduit and divergent vine wines and Tag + Jug Cider.  In 2014 Aaron met Amy, who was working for a wine distributor, and they clicked around a shared love of wine and food. They got married, and Amy now runs the back office operations for the three brands. In 2020, after many years or sourcing fruit from California’s Sierra Foothills, Aaron and Amy fell in love with a beautiful piece of property, vineyard, and winery in the Sierra Foothills that has now become the home base of Conduit and Divergent Vine wines, Tag + Jug Cider Co., as well as their own Gold Dust Vineyard.