Nose
The aromatic profile is densely layered with notes of smoked meat, lavender oil, cedar bark, worn leather, spearmint, and blueberries.
Palate
The mouth feel displays a steady contrast of weight and levity, with powerful notes of clove oil, macerated black fruit, allspice, cocoa nib, lilac and crushed rock. Due to the higher skin-to-juice ratio this vintage, the flavors are still tightly packed together and the tannic structure takes some time to unfold. With an hour in a decanter, this wine starts to show its true colors and those that are patient, will be richly rewarded.
Growing Conditions
The most pertinent note to start with for this vintage is the significant decrease in quantity. Usually, cluster size in all 3 blocks at the vineyard is medium-plus and we have enough clusters to finely tune how much fruit we hang going into harvest to balance color profile and flavor complexity. In 2015 we found the crop load to be smaller in terms of overall clusters and berry size. While the downside is less wine available, the upside is small berries and smaller clusters creating more concentrated flavors, saturated color and balancing structure.
Aging
20 Months, 100% New French Oak
Appearance
The wine possesses a purple-black hue in the glass that is almost completely opaque at its core.
