Kleinlerer Skin Contact Chenin Blanc 2024

The Kleinlerer Skin Contact Chenin Blanc is the orange wine that launched the Kleinlerer Wines brand in 2019. The 2024 vintage is produced from 100% Chenin Blanc grown in an organic vineyard in Clarksburg, California’s most celebrated region for the variety. The vines, rooted in rocky loam soils along a tributary from the Sacramento River, benefits from the cooling influence of the waterway and the occasional botrytis, adding texture and depth to the wine. The result is a wine that captures the purity of Chenin Blanc and the layered complexity achieved from exquisitely maintained vines, and the texture that comes from extended skin contact.

Fermentation took place utilizing indigenous yeast, and the juice remained on the skins for 21 days. The cap was gently punched down by hand to preserve delicacy and nuance. After pressing, the wine was aged for ten months in neutral French oak barrels, building texture without imparting overt new oak influence and flavors. Like all Kleinlerer Wines, the Skin Contact Chenin Blanc was produced using minimal sulfur (30-33 ppm) and bottled unfined and unfiltered. As a result, it is deliberately hazy. This wine is a living expression of its minimal intervention origins and our commitment to authenticity, transparency, natural balance, and to producing great natural wines from California.

In the glass, the 2024 Skin Contact Chenin Blanc reveals a golden hue and a lifted aromatic profile of golden apple, dried apricot, honeysuckle, and a touch of ginger, underpinned by a gentle grip and saline finish. With its low 11% ABV, it remains refreshing, textured, and deeply complex.

For the most complete experience, remove the bottle from refrigeration about 20 minutes before serving. As it warms slightly, the wine reveals an intricate evolution of its layers from bright orchard fruit to deeper, savory tones and complexity embodying Kleinlerer’s signature approach to skin-contact winemaking.