Tectonic is a Skin Contact, or “Orange Wine” - a unique white wine made by allowing white grapes to ferment on their skins.
Tectonic
Variety 100% La Crescent | ABV 14.5%
Tasting Notes | Bergamot, apricot, black tea
Tectonic is a unique white wine made by allowing white grapes to ferment on their skins. Named after the awesome forces beneath our feet, this unfiltered wine reminds us that not all is apparent on the surface. Let this wine move you.
The 2021 Vintage:
The aroma is complex and layered, with notes of apricot, peach, raisin, white pepper, tea, rose water, and floral attributes; you could keep your nose in this all-day. This vintage is medium-bodied and has power, yet is balanced.
On the palate, the tannins and acidity are integrated, with a tartness and texture reminiscent of tea and thick-skinned tropical fruits; you may be confused at first, but you’ll keep coming back.
Making Tectonic
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Natural Orange Wine, Grown in Vermont
Made from 100% La Crescent grapes grown sustainably in our Vermont vineyards, our skin contact “orange” wine is delicate yet intense. It’s full of apricot, peach and citrus aromas and flavors, with a balanced tartness on the finish. Tectonic is a wild & magical creature!
This La Crescent was grown on two vineyard sites: The 2010 planting at Mt Philo, where vines are trained to a hi-wire system on 10’x8’ and 9’x6’ spacing. This site has a slightly western aspect and northsouth row orientation which allow for maximum sunlight and exposure to prevailing winds. Soils are deep, well drained, sandy/stony loams formed in both glacial till derived from limestone, calcareous shale, schist, and quartzite. The Ellison Estate site is a planting on an island in lake Champlain with shallow bedrock and soils of shale.
After handpicking all our grapes, we destem and put them through a gentle crush, the grapes for this wine went into a stainless steel tank to ferment. Pressing was performed after a forty-two day maceration on skins. About eighty percent of the wine was sent to neutral oak to age sur lie with weekly battonage for three and a half months and the other fifth was aged in stainless steel. After seven months, the lots were blended and allowed to come together prior to bottling.
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Always Honest
Transparency is our thing - seriously. Drop us a line here with any questions.
Gluten - Free
Cruelty Free
Responsibly Farmed
Vegan
Made with Handpicked Vermont Grapes
Crafted with minimal intervention using sustainable vineyard management practices
IAPETUS Wines
Our team farms over 15 acres of cold hardy grape vines on three vineyard sites in northern Vermont to make natural wine. Named after the ancient ocean that once covered the present day Champlain Valley, where the roots of our grapes now nestle, IAPETUS creates wine that is inexorably tied to the Vermont soil and landscape.
Using the deep historical context of the soil in which our grapes grow as a backbone, IAPETUS makes natural, minimal intervention wines. We trust our grapes to lead us to something wonderful.
We primarily grow cold-hardy hybrid grape varieties that are best suited to our climate and have natural disease resistance
No spraying of unnecessary chemicals
All grapes are hand harvested, and we minimize the use of machinery in the vineyard to reduce soil compaction
Minimal intervention in the growing process
Our vineyards are never irrigated or tilled
Native grasses and wildflowers are allowed to flourish under the vines, naturally improving soil health
We work with sheep in the vineyard several times per year - they mow the grass and provide natural fertilizer
We don’t use sulfur or chemicals to “correct” things in the wine making process, our wines are unfiltered and unfined.