Balletto Vineyards And Winery/Amazing White Wines/Sonoma County At It's Best

We have been enjoying summer like weather,and I have been enjoying a few "Great Whites" from Balletto vineyards and Winery.These are incredibly well made wines,and will fit perfectly with your next feast.Before we sit down at the table,let's check out the tasting notes on these special wines.Let's start with the Sauvignon Blanc,this is a dry, crisp and lovely expression of Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is understated and elegant with a driving acidity that’s quenched by a generous and surprisingly lush mid-palate that brings a tense, perfect balance to this wine. The aromas are graceful with a combination of limy tropical fruit and a touch of classic Sauvignon blanc earthiness. It’s bright and savory, tart and lush all in the same package. The wine is completely dry with zero residual sugar to hide behind. It’s a pure example of how good Sauvignon Blanc can be. The cool southern third of the Russian River Valley is an ideal location to make Sauvignon blanc. Cold nights help maintain natural acidity and the warmer days nudge grapes toward fresh, bright fruit. The Balletto estate vineyard on Hall Road has two blocks of SB. The south block, with its high acidity and fresh fruit, makes the majority of the blend with the rich and savory north block adding richness and savory elements for the remaining 20 percent of the final blend. Sauvignon Blanc Winemaking Philosophy: The overall ideal is to make a serious wine that’s fresh, focused and delicious to drink. The grapes for the Balletto Sauvignon blanc are hand picked in two separate lots as soon as the green and grassy aromas have faded. The grapes are loaded into a press as whole clusters and pressed lightly. The resulting juice is settled and shipped directly to neutral barrels for fermentation and five months of aging on the lees before bottling. Twenty percent of the barrels are sent through complete malolactic fermentation to add weight.Our next white wines is the 2016 Gewürztraminer.I agree that is a mouthful. Balletto is making some fun, brightly crafted whites, like this floral, waxy one, that are not to be ignored amongst all its other estate offerings. Honey and white flower scents punctuate the nose before light, bright layers of lychee and orange flavors come through on the palate. Founder and owner John Balletto started the business after the untimely death of his father in 1977. When the family needed him the most, he put their needs before his own and relinquished several college athletic scholarship offers so he could stay home and help his mother, Hazel, run the small five-acre farm. The Balletto family was determined to make the business a success, and throughout the 1980s and 1990s they purchased parcels of land to gradually increase vegetable production. One of those properties is where the Balletto Vineyards winery stands today. By 1995, the Balletto family had grown the business into the largest vegetable farm in Northern California, growing more than 70 different vegetables on 700-plus acres. More than two million cases of mixed vegetables moved through the premises per year during its peak. Despite the success, John and Terri, John’s wife, could foresee challenges presented by California’s growing water shortage and the vegetable business in general. While the two contemplated how to address the impending issues, good friend and neighboring farmer Warren Dutton of Dutton Ranch suggested the Ballettos start growing wine grapes, which are less water dependent compared to other crops they were farming at the time. Seeing a bright future for wine grape growing in Russian River Valley, John and Terri transitioned a small portion of their land to vineyards later that year. We will now pour a glass of each of these beautiful wines,and listen to our feature!Care to join us,we saved you a seat.Cheers! We will now learn more about the white wines of Balletto Vineyards and winery. Cheers! Click here and join us as we enjoy great wines and stories Balletto Vineyards and winery.