Nose
This wine is powerful yet supple, with an intricate nose of baked cherry, dried currants and pomegranate fruit accented
with hints of oolong tea, toffee and fragrant oak.
Palate
The palate has a creamy texture that balances the chewy
tannins and emphasizes the concentrated fruit flavors. Notes of dark chocolate, creamy coffee and light tobacco are
drawn out over the long finish. The effort of double decanting will be well repaid by the depth of the aerated flavors.
Growing Conditions
Through dense plantings, meticulous pruning and canopy management, and careful hand-harvesting at night, each 25 pound
bin of fruit arrives at the winery in pristine condition. The appellation compilation of Fortis will vary year-to-year according
to each region’s performance throughout the vintage.
Fruit for the 2005 Fortis is a selection of 52% Stags Leap District, 28%
Oakville, 11% Rutherford and 9% Carneros.
The 2005 vintage was a long, slow wait as cool temperatures prevailed from budbreak to September. Luckily, the last few
months were sunny and warm through November when picking finally got underway.
Harvest
This wine was sorted with an
intensive process of cluster selection, then berry selection before crushing.
Aging
After malolactic, the wines were
transferred to French oak barrels, 75% new, where they aged for 15 months before bottling in March 2007.
Food Pairing
This is a wine meant for flavorful, rich dishes as it could easily overpower more delicate preparations. Grilled lamb and
herbed wild fowl are excellent pairings, but a simply seared pepper-crusted ribeye would be equally delicious. Hard, aged
cheeses like piave vecchio or 12-year old gouda nicely soften the firm tannins as would dense bittersweet chocolate truffles.