Nose

Aromas of nectarine, Bing cherry, red vine licorice, wild iris, rhubarb, and vanilla
bean.

Palate

A lively entry enhances the minerality and the zesty, natural acidity of this wine. Mountain tannins assure us of this wine's graceful aging potential.

Growing Conditions

Seamless season of heavenly hangtime and phenomenal phenolic development. February saw abundant rains, followed by lots of filtered light in spring and early summer. Both bud break and flowering occurred a bit late, but under ideal weather conditions, creating plentiful and even fruit set. Summer brought generous sun during the day and cooler marine influences, virtually uninterrupted by major heat spikes. The relatively mild summer followed by extended fall sunshine and moderate heat created near-ideal conditions for winemakers to allow their fruit to accumulate flavor complexity with gradual increases in sugar levels. Volume is looking great, up 20-30% increase over average crop quantity.

Winemaking

Our winemaking begins in the vineyard with meticulous attention to detail and close monitoring by Bob Biale and winemaker Tres Goetting. At harvest, the fruit is hand-picked and hand sorted to ensure that only the best fruit makes it into the fermenter. The grapes are then crushed and gravity fed into open top tanks. The must is cold soaked for 2 to 4 days at 50˚F. We then inoculate the must with commercial yeast strains. For color and tannin extraction, we do 2 to 3 punch downs per day. Fermentation is usually complete after 14 to 16 days at a maximum temperature of 86 ˚F. At dryness, we lightly press to 100% Burgundy oak barrels of which 23% are new. Malolactic fermentation is completed in the barrels. The wine was aged in barrels for 16 months.

Aging

The wine was aged in 100% Burgundy oak barrels for sixteen months.