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Circadian Cellars Roubianca Pet Nat
The Siren
Sara Garr knocked my socks off right off the bat.
We were sitting outside on a freezing day, but I couldn’t help but get excited by her warm and vibrant enthusiasm for her wines. She’s a local; grew up in Medford, went to University of Oregon, and came home to work in restaurants and the bottle shop at Harry & David’s. It didn’t take long before she was intrigued to learn more about the wines she was serving and selling.
Next up, a job at Quady North and Barrel 42 with famed winemakers Nichole Schulte, Herb Quady & Brian Gruber. Before long, Sara was developing her own perspective on winemaking, some have even called it a sort of subversive and feminist style. She’s been able to work with fruit from some of the best-known vineyards in Southern Oregon but always with her own take on the wine.
Most of all, she’s committed to showcasing the wines grown in her beloved Southern Oregon in a way that’s approachable to broader audiences – friends and friends of friends that she hopes to get hooked on wine from Southern Oregon.
Cellar 503 Tasting Notes
Circadian Cellars, Medford, Oregon
Roubianca Pet Nat
SEIRENES (Sirens)
Three monstrous sea-nymphs who lured sailors to their death with a bewitching song. They were formerly handmaidens of the goddess Persephone and when she was secretly abducted by Haides, Demeter gave them the bodies of birds to assist in the search. They eventually gave up and settled on the flowery island of Anthemoessa.
This Siren is a beautiful, deliciously cursed monster....made of two wildly different souls singing one song in hopes of finding new friends. Half of her is bird, needing to fly. Half of her is woman, needing to run free. But all of her is trapped inside this bottle and the sum of her parts bring us these fragile bubbles.
2022 Circadian Cellars Roubianca Pet-Nat
Circadian Cellars does sparkling wine a little differently. The style of the Roubianca is half way between a “natural” nothing added Pétillant Naturel (also referred to as Méthode Ancestrale) and a classic style Méthode Champenoise. Here’s a break down…
Pét-Nat is a fizzy often cloudy style of wine that’s bottled before primary fermentation is completed. Primary fermentation refers to when the yeast are eating sugar and producing ethanol. Two bi-products of this process? Heat and CO2. When the last little bit of fermentations is completed under pressure (in a bottle with a crown cap), the wine carbonates itself.
Méthod Champenoise completes primary fermentation in tanks or barrels first, then goes into bottle with sugar and yeast (sometimes other yeast nutrients and riddling aids). This spurs a slower process of secondary fermentation and aging on the lees (dead yeast and other solids). It can take anywhere from 3-30 years to achieve the desired taste a winemaker is looking for. Then, when ready, they’ll settle (or riddle) the solids into the neck, freeze them and pop them out! Then top the Champagne with sugar, liquor, or SO2 to achieve the desired level of sweetness. Phew, what a process!
Circadian Cellars bottles with approximately 21 grams per liter sugar from primary fermentation. This is a combination of natural residual fructose from partially fermented wine, and a sprinkle of table sugar which has both glucose and fructose, giving the yeast a balanced diet to get the job done and ferment “all the way” giving great carbonation and dryness in the finished product. Seems counter intuitive right?!
After that I go a step further towards traditional bubbles by removing most of the sediment through the aforementioned process of disgorging. But then I don’t add anymore sugar, liquor or preservatives to the wine, I simply top off bottles with more of the same wine. A few sacrificial lambs if you will.
So, long story short, I make sparkling wines that sit somewhere in-between both classic production styles. From grapes that have historically been left out of the conversation around sparkling wines. Which I think is a shame. Roubianca was named after smushing the two grapes names together: Roussanne and Malvasia Bianca. Fun right?!
These bubbles are best served chilly, it gives plenty of ripe Bosc pear and Granny Smith apple vibes. The finish lifts you right out of a refreshing lemon curd wave and leaves you wanting more. If you’ve read this far, cheers friends!
50% Malvasia Bianca
50% Roussanne
Pop a cap and experience yuzu spritz, faint Asian pear, pineapple upside down cake, spiced quince jelly, dried apricot notes and a finish light as air.
50/50 Malvasia Bianca and Roussanne come together in a harmonious marriage. Classic pet nat with a variety of different lees chunks depending on the bottle. It’s yeasty, fun, full of dried apricot notes and is supposed to be approachable - bridging the gap between natty kids and conventional consumers tired of cava.
A Cellar 503 selection in October 2024, Monster Mash Rogue Valley | Malvasia Bianca, Roussanne
