Nose
Aromatically, this fully-ripe Cabernet displays intense, bright notes of cherries, and layers of ripe fruit and spice. Plum, orange peel, chocolate, mocha, clove, cedar, and a hint of rose petal all tumble forth from the glass as the wine evolves with exposure to air.
Palate
On the palate, the texture is full, soft, and gentle, with fine-grained tannins surrounding the flavors of plum, dark chocolate, dried raspberries, and sweet earth. Warm and full at the finish, the lingering flavors are of sweet, dark-fleshed plums.
Growing Conditions
In the 2010 growing season we saw the rainfall return to the Valley, and in Rutherford we saw an increase of over 60% from 2009 (40″ vs. 25″). The rains persisted into late April, and the last significant rain was in late May. The combination of the wet soil with unusually cool temperatures put us a couple of weeks behind normal. This also created high mildew pressure, which persisted all season. We compensated by more than normal leaf removal to open up the canopies, increasing sun exposure. On August 24th and 25th the weather changed dramatically. Fortunately our canopies were adequate to provide enough protection for the fruit from extreme heat. Yields across the ranch were less than two tons per acre.
Harvest
The fruit was selectively handharvested between October 5 and 11, 2010.
Bottling
It was bottled without fining or filtration in March, 2012.
Winemaking
Sorted by cluster and then by individual berry, fermented and macerated on skins for approximately 30 days.
Aging
Put to small new French Oak for approximately 17 months.
