Varietals: 100% Petit Manseng
Vintage: 2019
Wine Maker: Jeff Frisbee
The Backstory
“This wine is really a comeback story. In October 2016, we lost Sam the Vineyard Dog. And while our hearts were broken, we did not realize yet how much work Sam really did in the vines. In 2017 and again in 2018, we lost nearly all of our Petit Manseng to turkeys: they ate it all,” explains Wine Maker and Owner Jeff Frisbee.
“In 2017, we didn’t know what they were going to do because we used the same bird netting we had always used and never had appreciable bird damage. It was then that we realized what a great farm hand Sam was, in addition to being the Gator-riding, tennis-ball-chasing greeter at the tasting room. In 2018, we took steps to stop the damage, but they were woefully inadequate, so in 2019, our protection regime became our presence, even when we were not working specifically in those blocks. We chased birds, turkeys, and any other critter with a taste for grapes out of the vines. We got the most fruit and likely the very best fruit we have seen from those vines. Gwinn is the first of three releases coming from the 2019 Petit Manseng.
The Name
Gwinn is the Welsh word for white or fair. It is also a family name, so we chose this to honor our history while giving a white wine the ‘white’ name.
The Wine
Dry, crisp acidity, with wonderful notes of tropical fruits - think papaya and mango on the nose.
The Pairing
Pair this with something fatty to stand up to the phenomenal acidity. Roasted duck with a blackberry compote. For the perfect pairings Valentine’s weekend dinner at the vineyard, it was paired with a parsnip and leek soup, with a beetroot, and goat cheese terrine on crostini.