Zeitgeist Cellars, Russian River Valley (Sonoma County, California) Trousseau Gris 2018

 I think the first time I tasted a wine made from the Trousseau Gris grape was in the mid-1990’s.  For a few years Peter Fanucchi entered it in a wine competition I created called, “The Dallas Morning News Wine Competition.”  It was from his Wood Road Vineyard and it consistently won medals.  The entries stopped after 2002.  I was delighted to find this wine at a local wine shop and think that winemakers (as well as spouses) Mark Porembski and Jennifer Williams are doing a great job with this rare grape.  It is a mutation of the French red grape Trousseau.  In California it was widely grown as Gray Riesling, but most was grafted over to more profitable varieties.  Peter Fanucchi is still tending the vineyard his father planted in 1981 and plenty of wineries get grapes from him.  Porembski and William both have day jobs.  He’s winemaker for Anomaly Vineyards and she’s making wines for Arrow & Branch and consulting with Ziata and Pahlmeyer.  In their spare time they source grapes from vineyards they admire then make and age their wines at Behrens Family Winery.  After a light press to avoid bitterness from skins and seeds, the juice is fermented at low temperature in stainless tanks and neutral oak barrels to retain freshness.  They avoid malolactic fermentation to maintain crisp acidity and allow lees contact to enhance mouthfeel and complexity.  The wine is bottled in February after harvest.  It is an absolute delight: fresh and zesty with citrusy with flavors of white peach, Meyer and a whiff of fresh fennel.  Its acidity is crisp juxtaposed with light creaminess in mouthfeel.  Enjoy it while sheltering in place on the patio or with a caprese salad.