Nose
aromas of blackberry, brown sugar, tobacco, cedar and violet.
Palate
The palate has flavors of black cherry, baking spice and cocoa with finely structured tannins and a long, lingering finish.
Bottling
1.5 L
Winemaking
The 2009 growing season was quite mild in Napa Valley. Napa Valley had slightly above average rainfall. The cool spring and early summer prolonged flowering. In the late summer, temperatures began to warm up and the grapes ripen slowly and resulted in grapes with conecentraed color and flavor.
The grapes were handpicked at night, brought directly to the winery, to be sorted and destemmed. The individual berries were sorted again and transferred into stainless steel tank to be cold soaked for five days. The must was then warmed and yeast added to begin the fermentation process. During fermentation, the fruit was pumped over two to three times daily to mix the skins with the fermenting juice to ensure optimum extraction of flavor and color. Once fermentation was complete, the wine was drained and gently pressed into French oak barrels and allowed to develop and age for twenty months
Aging
40% new French oak for 20 months
