2014 Paumanok Chenin Blanc Minimalist and 2015 Millton Chenin Blanc

Recently, we had our friends over for oysters from Harmony Sea Farm. These oysters are grown right in our backyard by Garrett and Sally Timmons. We got to taste their first harvest!

There is nothing better to pair with oysters than Chenin Blanc and we had 2 exquisite examples. We began with the 2014 Paumanok Chenin Blanc Minimalist. The back of the label is where you will find the vintage information as well as vinification information. Only unblemished, select clusters of Chenin Blanc from the vineyard planted in 1982 (35 year old vines!) were hand harvested and whole cluster pressed. Spontaneous fermentation began in stainless steel barrels and the wine was aged for 6 months. There were only 84 cases of 2014 Minimalist Chenin Blanc made. We heard an interesting story from Charles Massoud when we visited the winery recently. Charles mentioned that the Chenin Blanc was initially planted to blend with Chardonnay. But, Chenin Blanc, (as we found out) is one of those white varietals that doesn't really play well with other varietals in a blend and why would anyone want to dilute Chenin Blanc with Chardonnay!

The next wine that we opened was a 2015 Millton Chenin Blanc that our friends brought home from their sojourn to New Zealand. The Paumanok and the Millton could not have been more different on the palate! We immediately picked out the oak notes on the palate, slightly muted fruit and acidity and overall creamier mouthfeel. This Chenin Blanc was vinified in a totally different way from the Paumanok Chenin Blanc in demi-muids (large 600 litre oak barrels) as well as in stainless steel tanks. The notes from the winemaker mentions that up to four selections are made in the vineyard. The grapes are hand harvested, destemmed and crushed and the juice is allowed to settle. The fine sediment is kept as nutrients for fermentation. This wine had a total acidity (TA) of 7.5 g/L, pH of 3.33, alcohol content, 12.5% and residual sugar measuring 6.2 g/L.
Both wines were deliciously different and both were very much appreciated with the oysters. As we moved on to our second course of salad with bread and cheeses, the wines paired well with the cheeses too, providing for a wonderful degustation with friends!