Palate
Rich in color, it has intense fruit flavors especially raspberry and tart cherries.
Growing Conditions
This 100% Merlot exhibits a soft medium body and reflects the concentrated depth of flavor that 35-year-old vines can produce. This wine stood out right from the start and turned out to be a wine reminiscent of the Bordeaux region in France where Merlot originated.
Harvest
Hand-harvested at night.
Winemaking
This vintage’s fruit comes from 35-year-old vines. I have watched this vineyard develop over the years and it is just reaching its prime in maturity. The backbone of the fruit made exceptional starting material that developed into a deep ruby red color with raspberry and tart cherry flavors. The barrel program I selected was mostly American oak, which gave it beautiful vanilla oak flavors. This combined with some neutral barrels developed loosely structured tannins with a beautiful smooth finish.
Aging
Fermented 16 days in stainless and then aged in 50% new and 25% neutral American oak and 25% neutral French oak for 21 months until bottled on 6/22/2017.
