Our Druid’s Biodynamic Blends

Winegrowers set long-term goals. That’s the reality of agriculture. We replanted our vineyard, and three years after planting the blocks, we got our first grapes. Then you start learning, and you need to listen to what the vineyard is trying to teach you. One of our long-term goals became a reality this year. In 2023, these things all came together to allow us to create the first generation of our new Druid’s wines—Red, White, and Rosé.

These wines may have been inspired by the Rhône Valley and Provence, but their personality is all Applegate Valley. As you have come to expect from Troon Vineyard, these wines exhibit the freshness and moderate alcohol that define our wines.

With the 2023 vintage, Druid’s has become a trio, each a Biodynamic Blend of many of the same varieties. These blends will change according to each season, and you can expect the introduction of other varieties as our newly planted vineyard blocks come into production.

2023 Druid’s White

Ingredients: Estate Biodynamic Organic Grapes, minimum effective sulfites

Nutritional Information: per 5-oz. serving: 110 calories, sugar 1.8 grams, carbohydrates 2.3 grams fiber/fat/protein 0

Technical Information: 12.4% alcohol, RS 1.8 g/L, TSO2 47 mg/L, pH 3.19, TA 5. g/L

Unfined and Unfiltered - Vegan Friendly

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

Winemaker Notes from Nate Wall

Troon Vineyard’s Druid’s White is a blend of many grapes native to the Southern Rhône region of France. We have marsanne, roussanne, viognier, grenache blanc, picpoul blanc, clairette blanche, bourboulenc and vermentino all planted on our property, and the blend will change to reflect each vintage. ​​In 2023, the picpoul blanc, bourboulenc and clairette blanche were still relatively young, so we excluded them from this year’s Druid’s White and ended with a blend of 35% grenache blanc, 35% marsanne, 25% vermentino, and 5% roussanne. These varieties have been grown together and blended for centuries as they have very complementary attributes - grenache blanc bringing acidity and structure; marsanne richer and rounder stone fruit character; vermentino backbone, verve, and salinity; and roussanne pretty aromatics and minerality.

The grapes for this year’s Druid’s White were harvested over seven days, starting on September 19th and ending on September 25th. The grapes were loaded into the press whole cluster (being first foot-treaded in the case of vermentino) before being gently pressed to stainless steel tanks. The juice then settled for roughly 24 hours before being racked to neutral French oak barrels for fermentation; the vermentino portion was racked to a concrete dolium (upside down “egg”) for fermentation and aging.

As with all wines from Troon, no additives, acid or sugar adjustments, enzymes, or sulfur additions are used at crush. Primary fermentation occurs spontaneously with indigenous/native yeasts and bacteria. The barrel and concrete ferments in our cellar are cool and very slow. They typically take several months to complete their primary fermentation, finishing when the cellar starts warming up in the spring. During this time, malolactic fermentation also occurs spontaneously. Usually, one hundred percent of the malic acid is converted to lactic acid, giving the wines a richer, rounder mouthfeel, which is also enhanced by the extended time spent on their primary lees. After roughly eight months in the barrel, this wine was racked into a tank for blending and bottling, receiving a small sulfur addition before bottling.

Nate Wall’s Winemaker Notes:

The grapes for this year’s Druid’s White were harvested over 16 days starting September 29th and ending October 14th. The grapes were loaded into the press whole cluster (being first foot-treaded in the case of vermentino) before being gently pressed to stainless steel tanks. The juice then settled for roughly 24 hours before being racked to neutral French oak barrels for fermentation.

As with all wines from Troon, no additives, acid or sugar adjustments, enzymes, or sulfur additions are used at crush. Primary fermentation occurs spontaneously with indigenous yeasts and bacteria. The barrel ferments in our cellar are cool and very slow, typically taking several months to complete their primary fermentation, finally finishing when the cellar starts warming up in the spring. During this time, malolactic fermentation also occurs spontaneously. Usually, one hundred percent of the malic acid is converted to lactic acid, giving the wines a richer, rounder mouthfeel which is also enhanced by the extended time spent on their primary lees. After roughly seven months in barrel, this wine was racked to tank for blending and bottling, receiving a small sulfur addition before bottling

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