Growing Conditions
2012 was a blockbuster near-perfect vintage year, yielding a crop of spectacular fruit that produced a high-structure wine,
and should stand out for decades to come. Summer and fall had warm temperatures, but no notable heat waves, which in
turn permitted the grapes to reach a very even ripeness. We picked the Cabernet over three days under truly the most ideal
conditions in mid-October, and expect 2012 will turn out to be a new pinnacle for our Estate.
This year’s Reserve yielded a single barrel, blended from selections from the top barrels in our progam.
Vineyard: Pellet Estate.
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Bottling
May 28th, 2014.
Winemaking
We hand sorted our grapes both prior to and after de-stemming, and following a four day whole berry maceration and cold
soak, we began primary fermentation. After nearly three weeks, the wine was gently pressed-off
Aging
Racked to 100% new
Darnajou and Tarransaud 36 month-aged tight grain French Oak barrels to complete a slow secondary fermentation for
another few months. The intense fruit profile and high tannin structure resulted in us deviating from our prior two year’s 22
month barrel aging, as we felt an extra 3 months in barrel would not add significance to the wine’s characteristics - it already
had the best possible balance of fruit, tannins and oak. After 17 months in barrel, we blended the final wine at the beginning
of March and returned the wine to barrel for an additional two months to allow the flavors and components of the individual
varietals to marry.