The Vena Cava Estate
- Vena Cava is a boutique winery founded in 2005 by Phil and Eileen Gregory under the principles of passion and quality over quantity. While they didn’t start with the intention of making “natural” wines, the more they learned the more this seemed the only interesting route forward. Today they are among the standouts of wineries in Mexico that are making exceptional wines in a “natural” style. While the estate makes wines that are strictly natural and others that are organic and noninterventionist (yet still apply some conventional techniques), we offer only their purely natural wines.
- All Vena Cava wines that have “Crystal Ship" or“Natural” as part of the name are made with organic grapes, fermented with native yeast, see no corrections, fining or additives and are bottled unfiltered with only a minimal amount of sulfites.
- While Vena Cava has its own estate vineyards, they have focused their business model on creating deep relationships with the best growers and the best vineyard sites such that, today, only 10% of their wines come from their estate owned grapes.
Vineyard locations, elevations and grape varieties –
- In addition to their 9.8 acres of estate vineyards located next to the winery in Valle de Guadalupe, they source their grapes from a number of select sites in Valle de Ojos Negros, Valle de San Vicente and Valle de Santo Tomás. All are organically farmed.
Total production: 10 regular wines and 10 “experimental” wines that change occasionally from vintage to vintage, 2,000 cases
2023 Crystal Ship Pet Nat SB - Vena Cava
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
Always a delight, this is the latest in the sparkling version of the three ways Vena Cava produces wine from Sauvignon Blanc. Fresh yet creamy, crisp, yet bright... oh my. This one starts with perhaps the most profound nose of grapefruit one is likely to find in something that is not an actual grapefruit. As the bottle opens, the flavor and aromatic profiles unfold and reach out in directions that truly surprise given the starting point. An elegant shapeshifter and a delight in the mouth, many will agree this is the best vintage of this pet nat to date.
110 cases made
Drinking Window: Upon release for 4 years
Vintage:
2023
Blend:
100% Sauvignon Blanc
Producer:
Vena Cava
Winemaker:
Phil Gregory - British lives in Mexico
Vineyards:
Valle de San Vicente - vines have an average age of 20 years in a vineyard site of 10 hectars. Soil is rich in clay and lies at an elevation of 600 ft.
Winemaking:
Grapes are pressed and the juice is removed from the skins after just 2 hours of contact. Fermentation starts in flexi tanks and once it's underway the juice is poured into the bottles and capped. As the fermentation completes the Co2 released imbues the wine with bubbles. The fermentation is carried out with native yeast.
Sulfites: no sulfites are added at any point during the process.
Farming:
Organic, natural, sustainable
Alcohol:
12.6%
