Nose
Aromas of fresh boysenberry, blackberry, and cassis, alongside dark berry fruit notes of fig, black cherry cola, and currants. The warm baking spice notes from the oak-integration work well with the more traditional Knights Valley tones of lavender, wild sage, and mocha.
Palate
This crowd-pleasing Cabernet Sauvignon is a beautiful Bordeaux blend, with soft, round tannins and a plush, rich mouthfeel. Built to age and develop further complexity, the wine in its youth is ripe and juicy upfront.
Lively and well-balanced with vibrant acidity, chewy tannins, and a long, smooth, satisfying finish.
Growing Conditions
Abundant late winter rains gave the soils much needed moisture to kick off the 2019 growing season. The long, warm summer saw few extreme heat events and the typical foggy mornings set the stage for producing vibrant and expressive wines. The long and relatively mild finish to the season helped to preserve freshness and finesse in the fruit with extended hangtime producing great color, flavor, structure, and tannin. Overall, the season was marked by exceptional fruit development with bright acidity, producing an outstanding vintage.
Located 17 miles northwest of the winery, Knights Valley vineyard is approximately 600 acres, and has rocky, well-drained soils that are perfectly suited to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
Harvest
The fruit for this wine was picked from October 10 through 25, 2019.
Winemaking
To maintain the unique characteristics of the different lots from varying areas of the vineyard, each is monitored carefully through the vinification and aging process. Extended maceration created larger tannins to enhance the lush mouthfeel of the blend and extracted a maximum of color, aromas, and flavors. The wines were then aged in French oak barrels (30% new) for 15 months and underwent malolactic fermentation for further development of texture and mouthfeel.
Aging
Vineyard lots harvested and vinified separately Aged 15 months in (30% new) French oak
