Nose
cassis, dark chocolate and unique to this site some hints of bay leaf.
Palate
charcoal, lavender and bitter sweet chocolate.
Growing Conditions
In 2015, we suffered up to 45% losses in several blocks. It was an early start, but cool weather during flowering in
May contributed to a less than normal fruit set. The berries that did set were generally much smaller than usual.
Once the set was complete, we had warm to very warm conditions up to and through harvest. There was no rush
to judgement on when to pick, we had plenty of space at the winery for the short crop, and all the fruit was in
before the winter storms started to line up off the coast. Initially, I did not pass judgement on this vintage; but
now having tasted all the wines in bottle – it is a great one in all respects.
Winemaking
The 2015 Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet was
fermented in a single closed top tank for about 14 days. The goal on this wine
was not maximum extraction but rather to best express the singular profile of
this historic vineyard. In order to achieve this, we did no more than two
pump-overs a day and had a maximum fermentation temperature of 86
degrees. Following completion of the primary fermentation, the wine was put
down to new Taransaud barrels where it stayed for 18 months until being
bottled unfined and unfiltered.
