What started off as an experiment for Lilia Perez, the winemaker at RGNY, has turned into a gold medal. Her 2019 Sauvignon Blanc – Semillon blend scored a 95, a gold medal, at the Decanter World Wine Awards.
“It was really a very small production,” she said. “Because of that, it was just an experiment. I sent it because I got very good comments about that wine.” Perez entered this wine, plus two others in the competition. This year the contest had 18,000 entries from 56 countries.
“It’s a white bordeaux blend. I wanted to try the blend because of my background in Bordeaux and I wanted to see how that blend works here.” she said. In 2015, she traveled to France on behalf of the Rivero Gonzalez brand to get her masters in vineyard and winery management. She used that experience to make this wine. “I saw the potential of aging in a barrel, and I liked it very much. I think it was the key to make it more elegant and bolder,” she continued.
Month after month of aging it in the barrel, Perez continued to like the results. “It was showing more and more romance and more complexity,” she said. “After five or six months in barrel neutral oak, we bottled it. It’s super expressive on the nose and very well balanced. I would say it’s a complex wine; it’s good to have with a nice dinner.”
Unfortunately, the wine sold out last month — RGNY only made about 700 bottles because it was just an experiment. But Perez has plans on reproducing it this year, and with the Decanter Awards score of 95 and its popularity, she wants to try to get as close to the 2019 result as possible.
“Of course, not every year is the same,” she said. “Every vintage is different but we’ll see the results this year.”
RGNY also just released their first canned wines. Their Scielo line blends, a bold red, a crisp white white and a refreshing rose, each come in a perfectly portable can. “We did a really really small production this year just to see how it works,” Perez said. “So far, people are just appreciating it and we’re selling very well.”
The cans are available for purchase at various liquor stores around the North Fork and at RGNY.
