Co-fermenting grape varieties is something David has done from the beginning. At first it was born of necessity. He only had two tanks at his disposal, and one day to pick his fruit. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot… it all went into the two tanks.
But as years went on and he had more equipment and time, David continued to co-ferment. He knows it’s how you build flavor. And how you make a wine that speaks of a site, not a grape variety.
“I compare it to preparing a dish, like coq au vin. You’re not going to cook your onions, your carrots, mushrooms, etc. separately, then try to build the dish after. You braise the ingredients together to build flavor as you go. I don’t think we would ever come close to these same wines if we fermented the varieties separately.”
“We recognize the grapes that will be ready on one given day, and that’s what we pick, regardless of variety. I understand there’s this idea of specificity, of picking block by block. But within a block there can be so much difference. Maybe there are vines or even clusters in a block that could have been picked two weeks ago. So through the weeks of harvest, I’m tasting fruit, thinking about the tanks we’re filling, and my wheels are spinning about how I’m going to put the pick together.
And that’s the really cool part of what I get to do. There’s no redundancy of, let’s say, block seven Cabernet comes first every year. Every single fermentation is different; it can never be repeated.”
“I tell people if you try to understand our wines by the percentage of this or that variety, it’s not going to work. These are wines from our properties. And since every single fermentation is different, the varietal percentage is always going to be different. Making wine this way means having control over every single aspect of the farming and the picking, which is the Abreu way.”