Verjus

Although the main grape harvest is still a few weeks away for us, we’ve already started crushing a small amount of fruit for a new project: verjus. Bon Appetit magazine has a wonderful introduction to its uses, production and origins but essentially, it’s the juice from unripe grapes. As part of our quality-centric farming, we frequently remove clusters that are a little further behind (in terms of maturity) in order to improve the purity of fruit in the remaining crop. It’s a necessary though painful process – dropping fruit that you’ve nurtured all season long to the ground.

This year we took the decision to save some of our Cabernet Sauvignon clusters for verjus. The results have been delicious. This sweet tangy vinegar alternative will soon be ready to share but we’re very happy to have been able to experiment so successfully with our first attempt. Kudos to the cellar team for their diligence in making time in a packed schedule to make it happen. We should have the first bottles ready to try in the tasting room early October – and some may even make it into the Alexander Valley Bar for some afterhours cocktail experimentation….