Old Westminster You Are My Sunshine 2019

You Are My Sunshine is a sparkling piquette from Old Westminster in Carroll County, Maryland. The blend is 55% verjus, 35% piquette blanc, and 10% piquette rouge. Piquette is made by adding water to freshly pressed grape pomace, allowing the residual sugars and native yeast still present in the skins to kick off a second spontaneous fermentation. The result is a low-alcohol, effervescent beverage that is technically not wine but shares its DNA entirely with the grapes it came from.

Old Westminster began making piquette after encountering one in 2018 and recognizing it as a natural outlet for their leftover pomace. They were among the first producers in the New World to release piquette commercially. This version is bottled near the end of fermentation to capture its natural carbonation, then disgorged with no dosage. No sulfites are added; the wine is unfined and unfiltered.

The color is bright salmon. On the nose: cranberry, raspberry, and lemon. The palate follows with crisp acidity, low tannic grip, and a light, almost frothy texture. At roughly 5% ABV, it drinks more like a high-quality sparkling beverage than a conventional wine, which is exactly the point.

Old Westminster farms its Home Vineyard in Westminster, Maryland at 800 feet elevation on channery loam soils over a bedrock of greenstone schist. All vineyard work is done by hand. Their farming program is primarily organic and incorporates biodynamic preparations 500, 501, and 508, though they use synthetic inputs selectively when they are less intrusive for Maryland's humid climate.