Emme Wines "Violet Sky" Valdiguié 2024

"Violet Sky" is named for the particularly intense shade of violet this Valdiguié gets due to its high acidity. A tart, chillable red with cranberry and pomegranate fruit, mineral smoke, and chalky tannins.

As always, the Valdiguié is the slowest fruit to ripen at Ricetti. Because 2024 was consistently warmer than 2023, the fruit came in with a bit more sugar, though it is still by far the least alcoholic and brightest red wine Emme makes, and possibly its most aromatic, with such an intensely lovely nose of violets. The color transformation is particularly wild in wine, as when the grapes are first picked and crushed, the juice is a very nondescript greenish-grey color. As it ferments, all those wonderful colors and aromas from the skins get pulled into the liquid, and the final wine is a vibrant purple hue and wonderfully expressive to smell and taste.

At the winery, the Valdiguié fruit was partially foot-crushed and left to ferment whole cluster for 10 days. After pressing, the wine finished primary fermentation in stainless steel, then was moved to neutral barrique to age for 6 months.

Indigenous yeast fermentation. SO2: 10 ppm total. No other additions, unfined and unfiltered. 100 cases produced.

Based in Sonoma, California, Rosalind Reynolds founded Emme Wines (named after her grandmother) in 2018 after years in the industry alongside the likes of Les Capriades, Martha Stoumen, and Pax (where she is also the assistant winemaker). Rosalind focuses on "old school" California varietals, like Carignan, Colombard, Merlot and Zinfandel, as well as uncommon grapes like Abouriou, Valdiguie and Muscat Vert, all farmed organically and sustainably, and she makes wine without additives and minimal intervention.