Geisha Dragon
An utterly beguiling white wine from a winemaker whose appetite for experimentation – and strange labels! – seems to know no bounds. 70% Viognier, 20% Marsanne and 10% Pedro Giménez (Criolla Blanca) co-fermented with airborne yeast in a single raw concrete 3,000 litre egg-shaped fermenter with 35 days’ open / oxidative fermentation. 90% of the wine stays in the egg sur lie for 11 months; the other 10% is aged under flor in French oak barrels before being back blended with the main body of the wine. The final wine is then aged for a further 12 months in bottle prior to release. The results are extraordinary. An incredibly fresh wine given the winemaking techniques, yet with a texture verging on voluptuous. Lovely fresh-baked bread notes atop supple melon and pineapple aromas, rich yet precise in the mouth. Gorgeous.