Nate Wall’s Winemaking Notes:

Mourvèdre is perhaps best known in the US as the “M” in a GSM red blend - grenache, syrah, mourvèdre. It is commonly described as having brambly dark fruit with a distinct “sauvage” quality, meaning a heavy dose of earthiness/mushroom/forest floor, often some pleasant herbaceousness, and sometimes a gamy or meaty savoriness. Mourvèdre has quickly become a Troon favorite amongst the twenty grape varieties we grow, having found a new home in the Applegate Valley.

The grapes for our 2023 Amphora Mourvèdre were harvested on October 2-4, 2023, and split into three open-top fermentors, two with 100% destemmed fruit and one with 30% whole cluster. As with all wines at Troon, no additives, acid or sugar adjustments, enzymes, or sulfur additions were used at crush. After fermenting outdoors for 18 days, the wines were pressed off and settled 24 hours before being transferred to our two “XL” amphorae (roughly twice as large as our other amphorae) for aging. 

We have found that mourvèdre has an inherent earthiness that makes it a great fit with the terra cotta amphorae, literally made from earth. Terra cotta amphorae do not add or mask any flavors while supporting richness and texture, especially across the mid-palate, leading to a very transparent, natural expression in the wine. After about 10 months of aging in amphorae, the wine was racked to a tank where a small amount of sulfur was added before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.