Nose

Aromas of red berries and mountain berries mixed with brown sugar, tobacco and a hint of violet.

Palate

On the palate, it’s expansive and dense with flavors of plums, raspberry, blackberry jam, vanilla and dried florals. The finish builds and lingers on and on.

Growing Conditions

A cool spell in August stalled harvest a bit at the outset, but a warm September brought a mad dash to the finish. All in all, 2016 was another high-quality vintage despite small volumes for some varietals due to cool, rainy weather at flowering. Sustainable farming practices were tailored to each block with the assistance of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) technology. All fruit was hand-picked at night and sorted in the vineyard, then transported by refrigerated trucks to our winery in Napa Valley.

Winemaking

The grapes were carefully destemmed and optically sorted to ensure only perfect fruit made it into the wine. A cold soak extracted color and flavor before primary fermentation began in tank. The wine was gently basket-pressed, then racked to oak barrels to finish primary fermentation, malolactic fermentation and aging.

Aging

15 months in American oak (15% new)

Appearance

This wine is ruby red with a bright hue.