Many of you have been asking lately about when you can get your hands on some Paper Planes.
Soon - the answer is soon!!
At the end of November we selected our final blend and decided to go entirely with our lots fermented in neutral oak - and it tastes even better than we ever imagined! At the beginning of this project, both Kyle and I wanted to ferment the wine stainless steel to get that wet stone, flinty character that we're both such fans of. Just for fun, We ended up fermenting half in stainless steel and half in neutral oak ("neutral" oak doesn't have any of that oaky flavor - it just acts as a really lovely porous vessel that creates more complexity). In the end, we decided to only use the 8 barrels in neutral oak. Our final product is a wine that is crisp with fresh floral notes and a complex, long finish.
People have asked us what style we are making the wine in (Provence vs. Burgandy) and I always tell them, "neither!" While Paper Planes is dry and has that salmon/peachy color that we've come to love in Provence style rosés, we want to celebrate California rosé and help begin to establish what puts California rosé on it's own level. We did things a little differently than most - and we're excited about that.
After we blended, we cold and heat stabilized the wine to get it ready for bottling. Although we're bottling with a machine, the type of labels we decided on (super pretty die cut/foil stamped) can't be applied by machine, so we've recruited a group of our closest friends and family to help us hand label the day after Christmas. Because nothing says it's the holidays like sitting in a cold warehouse hand applying sticky paper to 2,200 bottles!
Lastly, while the final piece of the puzzle might be the most boring piece, it is the most essential: the license. As soon as we have our final government approval (and we hope it is just days away) our online shop will be live and Paper Planes will be available to all. In the mean time, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know when we're officially up and running.