A warm vintage with excessive rain in August made for a challenging vintage. Compromised fruit was dropped immediately, leaving a tiny crop to ripen with more concentration of flavors. Predominately Chardonnay, with Pinot noir and a tiny amount of Pinot Blanc, the grapes were hand harvested, whole cluster pressed to neutral French oak, where all three varieties were co fermented. Aged 11 months in barrel with minimal topping, minimal battonage, and minimal sulfite additions, with an additional 36 in tirage. Disgorged and dosed with 2 g/L sugar, and 27ppm sulfites. This is Nathan second release of his sparkling wine. He is a firm believer in this type of wine and as he recently shared with wine writer and journalist Charles Curtis " ‘After all, the region was founded on sparkling wines [in the 19th century]. There is no disease pressure when you don’t have to hang for ripeness, and the climate is well-suited for that—with other wines, it’s a juggling act since the weather is consistently inconsistent.’
N. Kendall wines was founded in 2011 by Finger Lakes native Nathan Kendall. He is an internationally trained Winemaker who has experience in Sonoma, Willamette Valley, Waipara (NZ), Adelaide Hills (AUS), and Mosel (GER), although the plan was always to return to the shores of Seneca Lake. His passion is to create wines in an old world style using quality grapes and minimal intervention.
Having traveled throughout the world focusing on cool climate regions and varietals, the Winemaker's focus is on Riesling, Pinot noir, Chardonnay, and sparkling wine. All lots are carefully sorted, and the pristine fruit then undergoes long spontaneous fermentations. Post fermentation, the wine ages for months on the gross lees to enhance the texture. Wines are then carefully racked, never fined, and gently filtered before bottling. We feel the best way to express the unique terroirs of each of our individual sites is by using low intervention winemaking.
