2024 Viognier
2024 marks my 17th vintage producing Viognier for Sculpterra Winery! It’s still is my favorite white wine and 2024 will be remembered as a little crop, with limited bottling, affected by an early springtime frost. The 2024 season started out well, ample rains replenished our soil floor and we got off to a healthy start in January and February. We completed pruning, training and cane tying by March 1st 2024 and were excited for budbreak to begin. Our hearts were broken on Saturday morning April 6th when a FREEZE settled in to Paso Robles and burned back up to 75% of the newly formed buds. In one morning, we went from 5 tons per to less than 1 ton per acre in those same vineyards. Now we are even more thankful for the BIG 2023 vintage as we knew 2024 would be ¼ of normal production. This was the worst frost event seen in Paso Robles since 2011. The vines did recover and did produce a small crop. The good news is the resulting fruit was intense, small berry, and very flavorful. We harvested the vines at peak ripeness, bringing in the grapes at 25.5 BRIX from Robert Hall and 27.0 BRIX from Sukhy’s Vineyard. Also, in 2024 we planted 7.7 NEW acres of Viognier up on our hillside. This new high elevation vineyard should have natural frost protection as the cold air will settle in the valleys below. I’m excited to work with this new block and make even more Viognier in the coming vintages!
Our Viognier winemaking protocol is as follows: make each lot on its own, using different yeast and fermentation temperatures, then assemble a final blend once each lot is completed. This gives me the ability to construct 3 different Viogniers that bring unique and individualist taste to the final blend. The hand-picked grapes are not crushed, simply lightly pressed at 1.6 bars in order to release the juice for cold settling and fermentation to begin. Yeast ICV-D254 was selected for our Frankel Estate Vineyard Viognier for its ability to enhance structure and highlight stone fruits. Yeast BA-11 was used for Sukhy’s Viognier, it’s known to create floral notes as well as improve structure and finish. Finally Cross Evolution yeast was used for Robert Hall’s fruit and brings classic Viognier crisp apple and pear notes. We bottle the wine as soon as it’s ready! That’s an essential part in order to capture the youth, vibrance, and elegance in taste and flavor. In total, each lot fermented on average for 30 days before cold and heat stability was achieved.
| Download Wine Notes |
| Vintage | 2024 |
| Varietal | Viognier |
| Varietal Composition | 100% Viognier |
| Appellation | Paso Robles |
| Vineyard | Sukhy's Creston Road Home Ranch & Robert Hall Home Vineyard |
| Acid | 0.70 |
| PH | 3.7 |
| Residual Sugar | 0.78 |
| Alcohol | 16.00% |
| Volume | 750 ml |
| Bottling Date | 02/05/2025 |
| Cases Produced | 800 |
We experienced record-setting rain in 2023, along with a mild spring and summer, all of which set us up with remarkably high-quality fruit. This wine is 100% Viognier and a blend of three distinct Paso Robles Vineyards. The first, our own Frankel Estate Viognier Vineyard, is located in the El Pomar Sub AVA. It contains clay-loam soils and has drastic temperature swings that amplify the unique taste. Sukhy Suran’s Creston Road Viognier is situated on a super steep hillside with tight condensed rows that produce light tonnage, small berries, and concentrated stone fruit taste. Lastly, Robert Hall Home Vineyard is located next to Hunter Ranch Gold Course off 46 East in Paso Robles. This vineyard sits atop a small hill with two meandering creeks flanking the sides. These three vineyards were harvested at different target BRIX levels, ranging from 23.5 to 27.0; crafting a wine with complexity, diversity, and balance.
