Sea Stinger 2025

AVA: Walla Walla Valley

Vineyards: Les Collines

Varietal Percentages: 100% Picpoul

Alcohol: 13.4%

Cases Produced: 80

 

Production Notes: The fruit was lightly foot-tread and left to macerate on the skins overnight before pressing. The juice was inoculated and fermented cold in an 80-gallon clay amphora and neutral oak barrels. The wine remained on its lees until sterile filtration and bottling in February of 2026. No malolactic fermentation. 

Winemaker’s Notes: Within Washington State, the number of producers working with this extraordinary variety (as well as the number of acres planted to it) could probably be counted on two hands. Hopefully, that is soon to change because I believe that Picpoul could potentially have a future in Washington State as bright as the grape’s signature racy acidity. Picpoul’s late ripening window as well as its ability to cling to its acid make it ideally suited to the increasingly hot and protracted summers of Eastern Washington. 

 

I once heard a fellow winemaker refer to Picpoul wines as “adult lemonade”; a characterization with which I am inclined to agree. Picpoul is the kind of wine you reach for when the sun is out, the weather is warm, and you are sitting near a body of water or on the patio. The aroma of Picpoul is an amalgam of lemon, fresh thyme, and subtle floral accents. The acidity lights up the palate and finishes on a saline note that is somehow both refreshingly crisp and astoundingly lengthy. I know I’ll be drinking this one all summer long so probably best to get some now before it’s gone!     

-Brent Roberts, Winemaker