The Jeanne D’Arc has always been a project. We like Orange wines and want to make them and drink them and encourage our customers to do the same. They are funky and hard to swing people around to, but we feel strongly that they have their place and offer a complexity that is hard to match. The skins bring in a savoriness and pseudo minerality as well as a texture and mouthfeel that is unique, but also fun and food friendly. The lack of SO2 during aging lets the wine work itself out naturally, usually oxidizing a bit, but ultimately reaching a balance of acid and phenolic composition that suits itself.

I wrote the above when we first started making this wine in 2008. A lot has changed. Now most progressive and even not so progressive wine lists have an orange wine offering. Maybe we are on the tail end of the trend, but for a minute there, every hip kid in a wine bar was drinking some kind of skin contact wine. Suffice it to say that this all makes us really happy. Its kind of like when your favorite unheard of band gets noticed except Orange wine is still cool!!

This is the 17th vintage (there was no 2024) of Jeanne D’Arc comprised of 60% Chenin Blanc from the Wilson Vineyard on Merritt Island in Clarksburg, 20% Viognier, and 20% Verdelho from Mangels Ranch in Suisun Valley.

As always, the focus is on Chenin’s ability to be subtle yet irresistible even in this varietally questionable circumstance. The lots were picked around Aug 20th in the 20-21 brix range then destemmed to an open-top fermentor. The wine was not chilled or inoculated. The fermentation began naturally after 9 days on the skins. Nearly a month later, we pressed the dry juice off of the skins to neutral French barrels and let the Malolactic Fermentation proceed naturally till complete in neutral barrels. The final wine is unfiltered and unfined and always a little Hazy with some sediment to add to the flavor and texture.

Drink to Joan! 566 cases produced. KL