Florèz Wines ‘Kind of Orange’ Skin Contact White 2022

Location: United States, California

Winemaker: James Jelks

Grapes: Viognier

Soil: gravelly loam

Winemaking: The grapes were handpicked and carefully put into stainless vessels for a 3-week carbonic maceration, using harvested CO2 from an already active fermentation, as opposed to using CO2 from a commercial cylinder. While it was done as carbonic, the soft skins readily bled juice leading to a type of submerged cap maceration for the later portion of the fermentation. The structure of the wine comes from skin tannin, and stem tannin. Pressed off and sent to neutral French oak barrels for 10 months aging sur lie. Racked once and bottled. No additives including no added sulfites.

From the Importer Jenny & François: James says that ‘Kind of Orange’ is a rare bird: “These vines verge on wild, and sadly there is an attrition every year. We may only have another vintage or two of this wine…This wine somewhat invented itself. I was dabbling with carbonic maceration in 2020 and the juicy Sauvignon Blanc turned into a carbonic juice bath of an orange wine. It was shockingly good, so we repeated the process. I also like that orange wine pre-dates modern winemaking and I really want to visit Georgia to learn about ancient winemaking!” Peach O’s, mandarin, guava, passionfruit, cantaloupe, & lychee. There is a near muscat quality to the intensity of this wine. Rather serious; dry, tannic, and with medium plus acidity.

Florèz Wines was started by James Jelks in 2017. James grew up in the Santa Cruz area and was schooled in winemaking at nearby UC Davis. He worked in wineries all over the world for 10 years before returning home to make wine in the Santa Cruz area. He is farming some vineyards himself, always dry-farmed, and is also sourcing some fruit from organic and sustainable vineyards. He always works with native yeasts, does not use additives except for a minimal amount of sulfur at bottling, and does not filter the wines.