Palate
This full-throttle, blockbuster wine is mouth filling, bursting with blackberries, ferrous notes, vanilla, smoky tobacco and very dark chocolate. During Harvest 2013, Winemaker Jim Duane reported that the tannins in this Olympian vintage are the most massive ever to be produced by our steep hillside blocks. Monumental and opulent, this wine is overflowing with raw power. Time will be its friend. Preview it now but provide it with patient cellaring so that its full majesty can be revealed.
Growing Conditions
Seavey's 24th vintage of estate-produced Cabernet, the 2013, comes from grapes grown on steep hillside blocks of the vineyard. Following a winter with scant rain, a warm, dry spring allowed for vigorous vine growth. Extensive flowering and pollination created a strong fruit set, creating the potential for larger than average yields. Ideal summer conditions followed and mild harvest temperatures allowed us to patiently handpick each hillside block at its optimum ripeness. Each vineyard block was then separately vinified and aged.
Winemaking
Winemaking followed classic Bordeaux methods with whole-berry fermentation. In the cool of the early morning harvest, grapes were promptly de-stemmed and the uncrushed berries were gently transferred into fermentation tanks. In order to carefully manage the tannins and resulting wine texture, the grapes were neither crushed nor run through a pump.
Aging
20 months 100% French Oak (70% new)
