Ingredients: Ingredients: Estate Biodynamic Organic Grapes, minimum effective sulfites

Nutritional Information: per 5-oz. serving: 110 calories, sugar 0.1 grams, carbohydrates 2.1 grams, fiber/fat/protein 0

Technical Information: 12.5% alcohol, RS 0.4 g/L, TSO2 41 mg/L, pH 3.40, TA 5.4 g/L

Unfined and Unfiltered - Vegan Friendly

Packaging: Bottle Weight: 467 grams, no capsule, corks origine by DIAM, tree-free labels

The purpose of our “Ascendant” wines are to be age-worthy representations of the unique terroir of Troon Vineyard. The three components for the 2023 Ascendant Amber - 46% vermentino, 29% viognier, and 25% grenache blanc - were grown and harvested with the intention to make this skin-fermented "orange" or amber wine. Viognier adds complex aromatics and a wonderful spicy character to the blend. Skin-fermented vermentino adds richness and depth, while grenache blanc brings fruitiness, acidity, and additional layers of phenolic texture.

The process of making amber wines is very similar to that of making red wines, where entire berries and sometimes whole clusters are fermented. If you start with red grapes, this process makes a red wine, but if you start with white grapes, this process makes an amber wine. Because these grapes are being grown for amber wines, we performed extra leaf removal on these vines in the vineyard to allow for more sun penetration into the fruiting zone, further developing the skin tannins of the grapes. These grapes were then harvested at slightly riper sugar levels with significantly enhanced phenolic development as compared to the same grapes harvested for a white wine.

Due to their varying ripening times, each variety was harvested and fermented separately in open-top fermentors outdoors, typically with about 30% whole-cluster inclusion. Fermentations proceed spontaneously with native yeasts, and generally reach dryness in 3-4 weeks. They are then pressed to neutral oak barrels, including a small number of acacia barrels, for aging and spontaneous malolactic fermentation. The wine stays in barrel until just before bottling, when it is racked to stainless steel tank and a small amount of SO2 is added. Virtually all of the wines at Troon Vineyard are bottled unfined and unfiltered; this wine is an exception. Two of the five separate lots in this blend required  strong filtration before being combined for bottling. Thus this wine, while still being certified Biodynamic, is certified at the “Made with Biodynamic Grapes” level as opposed to the full “Biodynamic Wine” level like the rest of Troon wines.