Nose
Perfumed with exquisite aromas of pear nectar, quince and fine holiday spice.
Palate
The palate offers a broad, complex, articulate expression of the terroir, enveloping the senses with succulent, precisely defined flavors of golden delicious apple, kumquat and fresh, ripe fig. The mid‐palate adds a rich component of dulce de leche before giving way to flinty minerality that carries through on the velvety finish.
Growing Conditions
The 2007 growing season was preceded by a mild, dry winter. Bud break came early and set a crop of tight clusters of small berries. Summer brought warm, even temperatures through veraison. Several heat spikes in August suggested that crush might begin early but temperatures cooled in early September, allowing ample time for phenolics as well as sugars to reach optimum levels. Sonoma Mountain produced wines showing exceptional intensity and vibrant delineation of flavors.
Harvest
Hand‐harvested grapes.
Bottling
Unblended, unfined and unfiltered; bottled January 2009.
Winemaking
Whole cluster, direct to press, cold Barrel‐fermented with indigenous yeasts; 5 months to completion Concurrent, spontaneous malolactic fermentation in barrels
Aging
Aged 16 months in French oak barrels; 100% new; Aged sur lies; biweekly bâtonnage.
Appearance
This 2007 vintage barrel selection from the Richard Dinner Vineyard is pale gold in color.