2025 Sparkling Erbaluce

THE STORY: This is our first time making a sparkling wine from Fox Hill. We have been sourcing fruit from the vineyard since 2013, and this is our first time working with the Erbaluce growing at this special vineyard. Sam Bilbro, winemaker and friend of Fox Hill who owns Idlewild wines, loves all things Piemonte - so he planted the Erbaluce nearly a decade ago and we are so happy he did. This wine is described by our winemaker Chris as a “lightbulb wine”. After tasting it something sparks inside of you - It is refreshing, complex, floral, bright, fruity yet refined. We promise we will make more next year to go around! We picked the grapes thinking we were going to make a white wine, but at the last minute we pivoted and decided to make it a sparkling wine. We foot stomped the grapes then gently pressed to stainless tank to ferment naturally. When the wine fermented to about 18 grams of sugar (still sweet), we bottled it. We let the wine ferment again in bottle, which made it bubbly as it went dry in bottle. Then we disgorged the wine one bottle at a time by hand. This is a labor of love - hand picked, bottled, disgorged and labeled. FUN FACT: The label is a drawing of the oldest and largest growing Black Oak Tree at Fox Hill, located at the top of the North Forty. We recently put in an owl box to attract owls, which will help us protect the vineyard as a natural predator. VARIETIES: 100% Erbaluce LOCATION: Fox Hill Vineyard - Mendocino County FARMING PRACTICES: CCOF Organic ALCOHOL: 12%