Nose
Upon opening this Cabernet, one gets the sense of walking through a berry bramble, dark berry aromas fill the senses.
Palate
On the palate expect an overindulgence of black and blue fruit that carries through the long, dense finish. Warmed with oak, vanilla and clove polish off the bouquet with a sweet sense of earth; its chalky tannins are palpable.
Growing Conditions
2014 was a vintage that brought us a third year of drought. Our farming practices give us an edge over traditional farmers, since our vines have been taught to drive their roots deep into the soils, claiming water from below, not above. However, if the rain doesn’t come soon we can expect some difficulties ahead. We received “miracle rains” in March, and a shake-up by Mother Earth in August kept us on our toes (thankfully we only had a few repairs needed). The summer went smoothly, without significant heat spikes, but we did see high humidity throughout.
Harvest
Harvest was fast and compact until the early part of October provided a break to process the massive amounts of fruit. This is another great vintage on the heels of the fantastic 2012’s, and superb 2013’s; 2014, creating wines of true pedigree.
Winemaking
Grape lots were blended from several benchland and mountain ranches that naturally yield smaller crops and result in intensely colored and flavored wine. Vine canopies were carefully managed to protect the grapes from direct sunlight while the fruit was allowed an extended hang time to fully ripen. In the winery we used a variety of techniques to maximize flavor intensity while managing tannin levels including cold soaking, pump over, and varying fermentation lengths and temperatures.
Aging
The wine was aged in oak for 16 months.
