A mélange of flavors, from raspberry briar to vanilla to tobacco to violets, arouse the senses and create an intrigue in the mind. The wine continues to delight with bright acidity and a supple tannin structure that is so well integrated that images of cherry cream soda, dark roast coffee and craisins are brought to mind. The wine finishes like a professionally crafted raspberry mocha hand pulled via a La Marzocco espresso machine. This wine will reward the patient aficionado by cellaring well through 2030. It is light and ethereal enough to show beautifully alongside a roast Cornish Game Hen and powerful and rich enough to show well alongside an herbed lamb roast. So, this is a great wine to pour alongside a chef’s selection dinner and should perform well on any occasion.
Our estate vineyards were harvested on September 24th, October 1st and October 2nd to maximize the specific ripeness attributes we were aiming for at each site. 2019 began with a wet and cool spring, which pushed bud break out two weeks later than in 2018. The summer growing season was relatively uneventful, with no heat spikes. Due to the moderate weather and late bud break, veraison did not end until early August in some areas of the valley. Autumn brought hot days and cool nights which helped push the grapes to full ripening, while preserving their acidity. As a result, the wines produced from this vintage are full and robust with deep color.
The grapes were hand-harvested at night—when temperatures often dip to 50˚F – to capture vibrant acidity and fruit expression in the wine. We first cold-soaked the must (crushed grapes) for gentle extraction and then fermented in stainless steel, concrete, and oak barrel fermenters at 92˚F. Rigorous pump-overs, increasing during the peak of the fermentation, developed deep color, rich varietal character and fine tannins in the wine. The wine was aged in new French oak barrels to meld the bright fruit expression with oak spice nuances. After three months of aging, we blended the vineyard components then allow them to marry during the remainder of the 26 months of barrel-aging. This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered to present the attributes of the vineyard in the purest form possible, from the dirt to the glass!
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