Palate
On the palate, the 2014 La Jota Cabernet Franc has dragon fruit, ripe pomegranate and dark raspberry with herbal aromatics. Espresso bean and vanilla are carried by an impressive mouthfeel and long drawn out finish.
Growing Conditions
The 2014 growing season was another excellent year. The timing could not have been better: a warmer April and May helped push things along, with an above average crop load, followed by June and July that saw several heat spikes but nothing that lasted for more than three days. The beginning of October helped with later ripening areas as we experienced a bit of an Indian summer. Overall, 2014 had great weather conditions for ripening fruit without the worries of sun burn, shrivel or early fall cold.
Winemaking
We hand-harvested grapes into small, 30-pound boxes to prevent crushing, and then we brought them to the winery for hand-sorting. After destemming and light crushing, the must was cold-soaked for gentle color, flavor and tannin extraction. Winemaker Chris Carpenter fermented the juice with native yeast in a combination of open and closed-top stainless steel tanks. Following gentle basket press, the wine underwent in-barrel malolactic fermentation, rounding the acidity and integrating the vanilla character of French oak.
Aging
19 months in French oak (71% new)
