Arnot-Roberts Ribolla Gialla Bengier Vineyard 2023
Arnot-Roberts Ribolla Gialla Bengier Vineyard 2023
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Arnot-Roberts Ribolla Gialla Bengier Vineyard 2023

Arnot-Roberts
$45.00

Grape: Ribolla Gialla
Vintage: 2023
Type: White

Sourced from the Bengier Vineyard (formerly Vare Vineyard) in the cool Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley, this rare bottling comes from organically farmed vines rooted in rocky alluvial soils. Hand-harvested at low potential alcohol, the fruit undergoes whole-cluster pressing directly to neutral French oak barrels for spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts. The wine undergoes no malolactic fermentation and ages on its fine lees for several months to preserve its high natural acidity and distinct structural skin tannin. Bottled with minimal intervention, this is a chiseled, European-leaning Napa white built on linear tension and raw minerality.

A pale yellow-gold hue leads to refined aromas of green apple, dried citrus peel, white floral blossoms, and fresh hay. The palate is dry, crisp, and tactile, delivering focused flavors of yellow plum, quince, raw almond, and saline minerals. High, electric natural acidity cuts through the light, slightly waxy mid-palate, giving the wine exceptional vertical energy and drive. It finishes with a long, clean trail of crushed limestone, lemon pith, and a subtle phenolic grip.

Arnot-Roberts was founded in 2001 in Healdsburg, California, by childhood friends Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts. Recognized as key figures in Northern California’s low-intervention wine movement, the duo bypassed regional conventions of high extraction and heavy oak to focus on cool-climate, high-elevation, and site-expressive vineyards. Sourcing fruit from dry-farmed and organically managed plots across the Sonoma Coast, Napa Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, and Sierra Foothills, they work with a diverse spectrum of varieties—ranging from benchmark cabernet sauvignon, syrah, chardonnay, and pinot noir to rare plantings of ribolla gialla, trousseau, and gamay.

In the cellar, winemaking centers on minimal handling, early harvesting to maintain bright natural acidity, and low alcohol potential. Red grapes undergo high percentages of whole-cluster, native yeast fermentations in open-top vats before resting in neutral French oak barrels. Whites undergo direct pressing and lees aging in neutral wood and stainless steel. Bottled with minimal sulfur and without fining or filtration, Arnot-Roberts’s single-vineyard cuvées—such as their mountain-grown cabernet sauvignons (Clajeux and Fellom Ranch), savory syrahs (Que Syrah), and skin-contact ribolla gialla—are defined by laser-like mineral tension, savory herbals, and translucent structural grace.