The Steen 2022 Jurassic Vineyard

The Steen 2022 Jurassic Vineyard

Leo Steen
$31.00

Grape: Chenin Blanc
Vintage: NV
Type: White

This dry white wine is a pure varietal bottling of Chenin Blanc produced by winemaker Leo Steen in California. The fruit is sourced from the historic Jurassic Vineyard in Santa Ynez Valley, where vines grow on sandy loam packed with fossilized shells. The hand-harvested grapes are pressed slowly and undergo a spontaneous native fermentation driven entirely by wild vineyard yeasts in neutral containers. It matures on its fine fermentation lees to allow the structural elements to settle without wood dominance.

It displays a straw-yellow color, releasing clean aromatics of yellow orchard fruit, beeswax, chamomile, and wet limestone. On the palate, the medium-bodied frame balances ripe stone fruit flavors with a chiseled, crystalline mineral undercurrent. A racy vein of natural acidity cuts right through the slightly waxy texture, keeping the mouthfeel lively and energetic. The extended lees aging provides an understated structural cushion that frames mid-palate cleanly.

Leo Steen is a Danish-born winemaker who helped give Chenin Blanc an unexpected California stage. After restaurant work and winemaking experience in Europe and California, Steen became associated with the variety through old-vine and cool-climate sites in Mendocino, Dry Creek and beyond. His wines are not Loire copies, but they borrow the Loire's respect for acidity, texture and savory detail. He works in small lots, often with native fermentations and neutral vessels, producing Chenin, Cabernet Franc and other bottlings that feel precise, mineral and food-minded, with a Scandinavian sense of restraint meeting California fruit.