Palate
In addition to being luxuriously sweet, the wine has flavors of coffee, chocolate and berries.
Growing Conditions
The Big Break vineyard was chosen for this Late Harvest Mourvèdre. It’s planted in deep sand-soil, which is dry-farmed and benefits from the drying winds that blow through Contra Costa County. The vineyard carried a light crop of grapes that ripened and dehydrated without rotting to a high sugar content. By the time the grapes arrived at the winery, the lot was 25% raisined.
Winemaking
Working with ultra-ripe raisiny fruit to make this delicious wine had its challenges. The yield of concentrated grape juice was about half of what we attained from the grapes we used to make our Mourvèdre table wines. The must began to ferment after three days in the tank. We choose not to add yeast to the tank instead we allow natural yeast to do the work. This age old tradition of Fred Cline’s grandfather, is used to contribute complexity to the blend. Fermentation progressed and in a matter of three weeks the combination of alcohol and sugar caused the fermentation to draw to a close.
Aging
We racked the wine to 30% new French oak allowing the fruit flavors to show through without being masked by the oak.
Food Pairing
It is a wonderful accompaniment to rich chocolatey desserts like chocolate mousse, brie with mango chutney, or salted caramel chocolate squares.
