BUNTER SPRING WINERY — CURRENT RELEASES
2017 SPRING FUME BLANC, SANTA CRUZ 13.03% alcohol, 48 cases, $25/bottle. Our 2017 Fume continues the series of standout wines from this vineyard which we began using in 2014. Barrel fermented and aged seven months in older “neutral” French barrels, using “wild” yeast. Totally dry, light-medium bodied, refreshingly tart, with aromas of yeast, flowers, citrus, and grass. Tastes of passionfruit, with a nectarine aftertaste. Perfect with oysters and shrimp, also great alone as an aperitif or delicious thirst-quencher. Ingredients: grapes, water, sulfite. Not fined, not filtered. At bottling: total sulfite 32 ppm, residual sugar <0.1 g/l (totally dry).
2017 SPRING PINOT GRIS, MONTEREY 13.67% alcohol, 24 cases, $30/bottle. This is our first Pinot Gris (or Pinot Grigio- same grape). We fermented and aged it in the same manner as our Fume Blanc: not inoculated with commercial yeast, “neutral” French barrels, aged on the lees, in this case for eleven months. Light-medium bodied, with crisp acidity, smells of green apple, ripe pear, rhubarb pie, and green herbs. It went fully through malolactic fermentation, so there’s a faint whiff of fresh butter, with the older barrels adding delicate vanilla and toasted wood components. In a word- complex. Ingredients: grapes, sulfite. Filtered, not fined. At bottling: total sulfite 68 ppm, residual sugar 0.3 g/l (dry).
2017 SPRING CHARDONNAY, MONTEREY COUNTY 13.65% alcohol, 49 cases, $25/bottle. 100% Chardonnay,”wild” yeast, fermented and aged on the lees for eleven months in mostly older French oak barrels. Faintly buttery, slightly spicy/oaky, ripe varietal flavor. Medium full bodied with a creamy texture brightened by good natural acidity. Ingredients: grapes, sulfur dioxide. Not fined, not filtered. At bottling: total SO2 68 ppm, residual sugar 0.1 g/l (totally dry). This is, unintentionally, the closest we have come to a California style Chardonnay. Good with lobster, roast chicken, and anything in cream sauce.
2018 SPRING ROSE MONTEREY “Kitchen Pink” 13.20% Alc., 25 cases, $20/bottle. Our saignee rose, it’s got only one job to do: refresh! We of course expect it to be delicious but that’s a given for all our wine. This really is a kitchen sink blend of 27% Cab Franc, 26% Pinot Noir, 25% Syrah, 22% Zin. Either I’m a prescient genius, or I just got lucky. I’ll settle for lucky, any day. Watermelon and strawberries. Not sweet, not dry, not tart, not flabby, not boozy, not weak. Just right. This stuff goes down hot thirsty winos like Kool Aid went down Beaver Cleaver. Not fined, not filtered, and you can tell by a close look. The antidote to industrial rose. At bottling: total sulfite 30 ppm, Residual Sugar 2.5 g/L (off-dry).
2017 SPRING PINOT NOIR MONTEREY 100% Pinot Noir, 50% Chalone, 50% lower Carmel Valley, 13.25% alcohol, 65 cases, $30. We have finally released our first official Monterey county Pinot! Of course, it had to be difficult. We intended to keep the two small lots separate and bottle them as single vineyard wines, but the Chalone, because of a horrible hot couple of days just before harvest, was low in acid, and the Carmel Valley lot developed a pronounced smoky character, despite the absence of any fires and the medium toast french cooperage. The best wine was the blend, so we did it. Ingredients: grapes, water, yeast , sulfur dioxide. Not fined, not filtered. At bottling: total SO2 80 ppm, residual sugar 0.6 g/L (dry).
SPRING 2016 CABERNET FRANC, MONTEREY COUNTY 87% Cabernet Franc, 13% Petit Verdot 13.24% alcohol, 58 cases, $25/bottle. Monterey County is vast. Much of it is too cool to ripen Bordeaux varieties well. This fruit was grown in the south, not far from Paso Robles, where it’s warm. A medium-full bodied, perfectly balanced wine, easy to drink and a good match for subtle or complexly flavored dishes that might be overwhelmed by a big jammy Cab. It tastes of red cherries, and the Petit Verdot supplied some nice texture. Vibrant and juicy. Ingredients: grapes, water, yeast, tartaric acid, sulfite. Not fined or fitered. At bottling: total sulfite 60 ppm, residual sugar 0.2 g/l (very dry).
SPRING 2015 CABERNET SAUVIGNON, CALISTOGA, NAPA VALLEY, 13.90% alcohol, 24 cases, $60/bottle. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, organically grown. Our friend Ed Lantz grows this on the site of the historic vineyard of Samuel Brannan, the founder of Calistoga. Calistoga is the warmest AVA in Napa Valley, and you can taste it here. This is a bold, ripe, spicy wine, aged in American oak, very contemporary in style, just what people love about Napa Cab. The grapes from this vineyard are expensive, and go into several wines selling for hundreds of dollars. Which is why we are planting our own Napa Cab! Ingredients: organic grapes, water, yeast, sulfite. Not fined or filtered. At bottling: total sulfites 57 ppm, residual sugar 0.1 g/l (totally dry).
SPRING 2016 CABERNET SAUVIGNON, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, 13.27% alcohol, 73 cases, $18/bottle. “Burger Wine” Organically grown. Contra Costa is a great place for Zin, Petite Sirah, and Carignane. It’s not well known for Cab, so we got a sweet deal on this fruit, and so do you. We treated it with the same respect as all our wines, including nice once-used French oak barrels. Medium bodied, soft tannins, juicy blackberry taste, perfect with burgers. It’s vegan, so veggie burgers work too. Ingredients: organic grapes, water, yeast, tartaric acid, sulfite. Filtered, not fined. Made using reverse osmosis. At bottling: total sulfites 88 ppm, residual sugar 0.3 g/l (dry).
SPRING 2016 COSTA PASO RED, CALIFORNIA, 60% Primitivo, 25% Petite Sirah, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13.70% alcohol, 100 cases, $18/bottle. “Pizza Wine” Half these grapes came from Paso Robles (most of the Primitivo) and half from Contra Costa County. When we lost our source of Napa Primitivo due to the 2014 Napa earthquake we didn’t think much of it. We had plenty of Primitivo in the cellar. By 2016 we realized people loved that wine and it was about gone! Bad news was Primitivo was not that easy to come by. So we couldn’t bottle a varietal Primitivo. Good news was we got a great last-minute deal on some drought-stressed Paso Robles Primitivo. It’s not Napa, but you get a real price break! This is a rustic blend, with a perfumey aroma, and roasted fruit jam flavors. Ingredients: grapes, water, yeast, tartaric acid, sulfite. Filtered, not fined. At bottling: total sulfite 77 ppm, residual sugar 0.3 g/l (dry).
2014 BÜNTER “NATUR” SYRAH, COOMBSVILLE, NAPA VALLEY. 100% Syrah, Estate bottled. 13.27% alcohol, 100 cases, $30. Organic. No added sulfites. Earthy, nutty, meaty, slightly spicy, slightly floral, with medium full body, good natural acidity, and rich tannins. Goes great with very spicy (hot) food, as usual for this wine. It actually cools and soothes your mouth after a bite of anything painfully spicy. The texture and mouthfeel are superb. The aroma and flavor are typical of no-sulfite reds: less fruity, more earthy. Definitely different. Ingredients: Organic grapes. Not fined, not filtered. At bottling: total SO2 2 ppm, residual sugar <0.1 g/l (bone dry).
2012 SPRING RED WINE NAPA VALLEY “GARAGITAGE”. 86% Cabernet Franc, 14% Petit Verdot. 13.80% Alc., 37 cases, $60 . This wine is pretty big and will be even better than it is now given a few years in bottle. If you can keep from drinking it up before then. It is riper and more tannic than the 2011, because the 2012 growing season was warmer and drier. This may be the best red wine on the list, for those of you who like subtle ripe fruit, tannin, and concentration, in an elegant, structured, reserved style . Ingredients: Grapes, water, yeast, tartaric acid, sulfur dioxide. Not fined, not filtered. At bottling: total SO2 85 ppm, residual sugar <0.1 g/l (bone dry). Steak wine, the fattier the better.
2011 SPRING RED WINE MUIR-HANNA VINEYARD, OAK KNOLL, NAPA VALLEY “GARAGITAGE”. 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Petit Verdot, 23% Cabernet Franc. 13.36% Alc., 103 cases, $45.
The rains of early October 2011 made this a challenging harvest for winegrower and winemaker alike, especially with the late-ripening Bordeaux varieties. Growers Bill and Mike Hanna and their crew helped us select only the best and ripest berries. The three varieties were fermented separately and the initial blend made in December 2011. In the following October, the wine was reblended, raising the percentage of Petit Verdot. Aged 21 months in once-used French oak barrels. This is a classically structured old-world style wine. There are layers of flavor, intriguing aromas, acidity that requires food, and plenty of tannin. This wine is drinking very nicely and still benefits from decanting- plus at its age there will be sediment. A food wine, for hard cheeses and red meat, not a good cocktail wine. Ingredients: Grapes, water, yeast, sulfur dioxide. Not fined, not filtered. At bottling: total SO2 78 ppm, residual sugar 0.5 g/l (dry).
Winemaker’s Note
Many of our wines are unfiltered. None of our wines are treated, as most commercial wines are, to prevent them from possibly precipitating cream of tartar if the wine is chilled below a certain temperature. Cream of tartar, used in baking, also called potassium bitartrate, is a crystalline salt of the tartaric acid that is naturally present in grapes. If you do chill our wine, and see white crystals, either chunky accumulations or fine powder, they are harmless.
For our red wines, we recommend decanting. Decanting will aerate and “open” most young red wines, improving aroma and flavor. For older wines it allows you to separate the sediment from the wine, if you are careful. If not decanted, please handle the bottle gently and pour carefully, especially as you near the end of the bottle. Enjoy!