The winery says:
Lane Tanner (our winemaker) has always used lower levels of sulfur.
The idea of using fresh ginger root in winemaking is to act as an antioxidant thereby protecting the wine naturally. Since ginger is an antioxidant, Lane found the need for sulfur is minimized.
This is not a fruit wine. This is a white wine, made with Chardonnay grapes from Santa Barbara County. Ginger is part of the process. [It’s removed from the wine before bottling.]
A fresh, subtle note of ginger on the nose. This single-vineyard Chardonnay is lean with peach, sweet lemon balm and mineral notes up front, followed by a finish of creamy custard. There is subtle spice throughout, expressing the ancient benefits of ginger root. Sturdy enough to stand up to a Thai dinner, but interesting enough to ponder on its own.
Tasting Notes: Nose: Sweet cream, green apple, fennel seed, English pea, honeydew melon. Palate: Bright & flinty, tart green apple, kiwi, lime, chervil; racy and vibrant. River rock, fresh thyme. Wound up and energetic. Think Chablis with a slice of ginger!
What a wonderful, fascinating, rewarding and above all versatile Chardonnay. It’s $30 at the winery and the only other local price is $30, too.
It’s also only 12% alcohol (yet with tons of flavor), and with a very healthy pH of 3.13.
I love that the back label says “Ingredients: grapes, ginger, yeast.”