Nose
Dusty, Cabernet aromas with wet stone, crème de cassis, and notes of forest floor.
Palate
The palate is marked by elegance and structure, and bursts with intense flavors of black cherry, blackberry, forest floor, and graphite that linger pleasantly. The firm tannins frame the generous fruit and are nicely balanced.
Growing Conditions
Since its creation, Cherryblock has been our flagship wine at Sebastiani. The majority of the fruit (94%) came from our original Old Vines block of Cabernet Sauvignon planted in 1961. The wine also features a portion of fruit from younger vines on our estate. Small amounts of Malbec and Merlot were sourced from nearby sites with similar climates and soils. Our goal is to create a benchmark Cabernet that possesses the elegance, structure and terroir-driven aromatics only found in Cherryblock.
Harvest
2014 was our second drought year throughout winter and spring. We had bud break in late-March and good fruit set in early May. Summer was consistently warm, but in our eyes not too extreme. The warm weather lasted until early fall making for an unseasonably early harvest and presenting a more fruit forward vintage.
Bottling
Bottling Date June 2016.
Winemaking
After harvest, the grapes were crushed, de-stemmed and hand sorted using our “micro-crush” equipment to eliminate any stem pieces (jags) and botrytised berries. We also did a cold soak and saignée to enhance color and concentration. After pressing, each lot was blended or egg-white fined depending on its characteristics. The wine was aged for 14 months in French oak barrels, 70% of which were new.
Aging
14 months in 70% new French oak barrels.
Appearance
Deep garnet-purple colored.
