Moraga Estate - Bel Air White 2019
Price: $74.99
| Producer | Moraga Estate |
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| Country | USA |
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| Region | California |
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| Varietal | Sauvignon Blanc |
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| Vintage | 2019 |
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| Sku | 31962 |
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This year of lockdown we haven’t seen as many friends at Moraga as we would have liked, but we have been visited by eagles, hawks and quails. We have some owls living here and even spotted a mountain lion one night!
Our Moraga white wine is produced from Sauvignon Blanc grapes that are picked in a very narrow window of time, when the flavors shift from grapefruit zest to peach, nectarine, and tropical fruit. The grapes are gently pressed and the juice is cold – settled, then racked into specially built stainless steel barrels that maximize lees contact. Initially, about 20 percent of the juice is fermented in new French oak barrels and is then used to top up the stainless steel barrels as the fermentation progresses. Ultimately, the wine receives an imperceptible kiss of oak during fermentation, but is aged solely in stainless steel barrels in order to preserve the beautiful fruit and refreshing acidity. Golden in the glass, it begins with lush aroma of white peach, nectarine and white flowers. The palate opens with a flash of acidity followed by smooth waves of honey-dusted nectarine and seared stone fruit. The exotic fruit and mineral characteristics of our vineyard dominate the flavor profile. The wine is an atypically long-lived Sauvignon Blanc.
Moraga Estate Description
Moraga Vineyards is one of the most unique wine estates in California. Located at a 550-900 foot elevation in the Santa Monica Mountains in the Los Angeles community of Bel Air, the winery and vineyard is the source of remarkably refined wines that perfectly reflect a union of distinctive terroir and the gentle guidance of focused winemaking. The property is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Grapes are not foreign to the Los Angeles Basin nor the Santa Monica Mountains where in lies Moraga Canyon in which the estate is nestled. The overland expedition of Don Caspar de Portola which established the route of the California missions – El Camino Real –passed by Moraga Canyon on August 5th, 1769. In reference to his sightings while in the region he states, “profusion of wild grapes and Castilian roses in full bloom”. Wild roses still exist on the property and are represented on the four corners of the Moraga wine label.
The property was originally the home of Victor Fleming, director of Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. Fleming created a horse ranch on the property and used it through the 1930s and 1940s as a retreat and a secluded venue to host his friends.
