Winemaker’s Musings

Interesting season we had here at Soaring Wings. Good heat, but a bit too much moisture. We worked our butts off to get it right though. Overall impressions are the semi-sweet to sweet wines will be killer good. The dry wines, good to excellent. The jury is still out as they are all in the barrels aging with the exception of one dry white that is not being barrel aged. More on that later. Overall everything is drier this year as the acids were down due to the heat and excessive moisture.

For now, some tasting notes:

Ice Falcon. Drier than previous versions it presents very well. Has a great mid palate and a very long lasting pleasant finish. Simply the Best Ice Falcon I have ever made. Lots of tropical fruit notes.

Brianna. Once again, great presentation, mid palate, and finish. Not as much tropical fruit as normal, but real yummy in a not so serious way.

Winter White. This is probably our driest version of the wine, but it is not dry. At least it does not taste that way. There is very little residual sugar in it, but the fruit notes and non-fermentable sugars give it great support. Once again, great presentation, mid palate, and the finish is slightly crisp. One of my best Winter Whites.

Vignoles. This vintage was made with almost late harvest grapes. We could not let them hang any longer due to the raising of the grapes. It is very hard to get juice from a raisin! The presentation is good with a full mid palate. Finish is slightly sweet, as you would expect.

Edelweiss. This is the driest Edelweiss I have made. My sweet wine drinkers will still enjoy it, but I think it is approachable for the dry wine drinkers out there. The nose is light, but the presentation is massive fruit forward. Huge mid palate. The finish lingers with pleasant fruity notes. My best Edelweiss ever.

Falco Red. This is just another easy-going blush wine. Real easy to drink and nothing too serious.

Dragon’s Red. The color is deeper than normal; which is good. This is once again, I know I am saying that a lot, presents great, mid palate is great, and the finish is great. One of the best Dragon’s I have made. Yum… yum…

Cardinal Red. We make this every other year. The Chambourcin grapes this year were great. This wine has a lovely nose, deep color, and sift presentation. The id palate is the best with dark cherry notes lingering FORVEVER! I guess that goes for the finish also. We usually make this pretty sweet, but this year it is semi-sweet. Cowabunga dudes. VERY nice!

Golden Eagle. This is a new wine I referred to earlier. Dry white that has never seen any oak to help preserve some those delicate fruit forward flavors. Jeremy mad this blend. It is his wine! Let him know what you think when released in December.