The Solar Fortún Estate:
Founded: 2010 by the López family
Vineyard location, elevation and grape varieties:
- Valle de Guadalupe - 1,000 ft - estate vines - (Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mourvedre, Syrah). The site is dominated by sandy soils with a small amount of clay. Organically farmed.
Winemaker: Enologist Santiago López Viana (Mexican born, trained at UC Davis, lives in Valle de Guadalupe)
Region and grape source: All grapes are estate grown in Valle de Guadalupe approximately 18 miles from the Pacific. They currently have 18.5 acres under vine
- Solar Fortún is a family owned and operated winery that was officially established in 2010 and planted 3 years prior in 2007. Coming from a background in theoretical and natural physics, (both of Santiago's parents are professors of physics at the university in Ensenada), the plan for this estate was methodical and precise, with no consideration left unattended.
Notes:
- Fully sustainable, (and idyllic to the point of being completely transportive) the only non-renewable resource they use in their operation is the fuel that runs their tractor. As the harvests, and almost all the work in the vineyards is done by hand, it doesn't get used much!
- All grapes are estate grown in an organically farmed vineyard site approximately 15 miles from the Pacific in a part of the valley called Francisco Zarco. The confining walls are so tight at this point that they create more of a canyon than a valley. This creates a unique micro-climate where the temperature differential between the mountainsides and the valley floor generates a nearly constant breeze eliminating the risk of cluster rot or powdery mildew. This cooler climate also plays a role in the high natural acidity of these wines and their very prevalent floral components.
Total production: 18.5 acres under vine, 10 wines, 4,000 cases
2017 Confabulario - Solar Fortún
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
This represents the last vintage the Confabulario will be produced and the 2017 vintage assured it would go out with a bang. From this point forward, grapes that went into this wine will be redirected to the monovarietals, as winemaker Santiago Lopez, feels those to be his strengths. While this may be true, this wine showed as the most approachable of the 2017 lineup when all of the 2017's were retasted in 2020. The blend has struck a just perfect balance in the mouth and has a nose that is so complicated and layered so as to be beguiling. The wine fills the mouth but has an acid balance that manages to keep it in the medium bodied range, passing on elegance and richness without becoming heavy. Bravo!
Drinking window: Now - 8 years
Vintage:
2017
Blend:
50% Mourvedre, 50% Petit Verdot
Producer:
Solar Fortun
Winemaker:
Santiago Lopez - Mexican
Vineyards:
Valle de Guadalupe, ejido de Francisco Zarco - Estate vineyards in a tight valley with sandy soils of decomposed sandstone and some red clay. Vines were planted in 2007 and the elevation is 1,100 ft.
Winemaking:
Fermented in stainless steel tanks for 2 weeks and then racked to American oak barrels and aged for 12 months.
Sulfites: 30 ppm
Farming:
Organic, sustainable
Alcohol:
13.5%
