After all of this information, it was time to taste wine! \u00a0The first sample was the base wine for Raffaldini’s upcoming sparkling wine, Auguri (Cheers\/Best Wishes in Italian). \u00a0This wine will be made in the traditional method, but it will use encapsulated yeast yeast during the second fermentation. \u00a0This means the traditional riddling method will not be required. \u00a0This wine is set to be released in August, 2018.<\/p>\n
We then moved to the barrel room. We first visiting the larger room and then moved to a second room to finish our tastings. \u00a0We sampled 2017 Sagrantino with a bit of Nero D’Avola which had big gripping tannins. \u00a0Next was a co-fermented 2017 Petit Verdot and Montepulciano which was inky and dark as well as tannic. \u00a0Finally, we tasting a 2017 appassimento Petit Verdot. \u00a0It was stunning already! \u00a0Dark fig, cocoa and tart blueberry were the flavors.<\/p>\n
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Bottling Line<\/p><\/div>\n
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We ended the winery portion of the visit with a look at the bottling line. \u00a0Then we moved to the villa. \u00a0We made a quick visit out to the edge of the vineyard for a discussion of growing degree days and soil types. \u00a0Growing degree days is a measure that predicts when fruit will be ripe. \u00a0Raffaldini practices leaf pulling after bloom to provide as much sunlight for the grapes as possible. \u00a0This is common throughout bunch grape growers in the state. \u00a0Finally, we took a look at rocks in the vineyard. \u00a0The soil consists of schist mica and granite with a loam topsoil. \u00a0This is ideal for grape growing.<\/p>\n
We concluded our visit with a private lunch and a tasting of current releases in the upstairs of the villa. \u00a0We want to thank Thomas and the whole Raffaldini team for hosting our group and providing this in depth tour and tasting. \u00a0It was much appreciated!<\/p>\n
Be sure to go visit Raffaldini and see for yourself!<\/p>\n
Cheers!<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prior to the first ever #NCWine Bloggers Summit, Thomas Salley of Raffaldini Vineyards offered to host a behind the scenes tour and tasting for bloggers who were attending the event. \u00a0We graciously accepted Thomas’ offer. \u00a0This led to additional tastings that day in the Swan Creek AVA. Continue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[379],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-cellar","has-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2624,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions\/2624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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