Nose
nose of dense, earthy, ripe black fruits – primarily blackberry and dark plum – complemented by cocoa, anise, pepper and Asian spice scents.
Palate
Beautifully structured on the palate, its rich, deeply concentrated, boysenberry, fig, mountain spice and dark chocolate flavors are framed by fine-grained tannins and culminate in a long, spicy finish featuring savory oak, blackberry and mineral tones
Growing Conditions
2010 was a notably cool growing season in California. The year began with substantial rainfall, which pushed back bud break, flowering and grape set by several weeks. After an unusually cool summer, heat spikes in late August kick-started full ripening. Cooler temperatures returned in early September, extending the season and allowing us to harvest our Dancing Bear grapes with an optimal balance of sugar and acidity.
Winemaking
The challenge in crafting Dancing Bear is to fully capture the intense mountain character of the fruit without extracting overly aggressive tannins. Winemaker Julianne Laks' approach is to carefully monitor tannin levels in the juice and wine during fermentation and maceration. After the component lots of the 2010 Dancing Bear achieve an optimal balance of fruit intensity and ripe tannins, the free run wines are drained from their skins and transferred to French oak barrels. In all, the 2010 vintage spent 19 months in barrel, 39% new, prior to bottling in April, 2012.
Aging
16, 2010
BARREL AGING
19 months in French oak, 39% new
