Nose
Intense aromas of black
raspberry, ripe blueberry and vanilla bean, dusted with sophisticated notes of crushed slate.
Palate
The entry is
plush with ripe black cherry and warm baking spices, lifted by a fresh acidity and fine-grained tannins. Its
ever-lasting finish lingers on notes of wild blackberry and cedar-infused dark chocolate.
Growing Conditions
The 2013 growing season was characterized by drought conditions and the earliest harvest in years, but
will be long remembered for stunning wines with rich color and outstanding complexity. Our crop was
plentiful with tight clusters formed from small berries yielding intense flavors and refined tannins. The
resulting wines are remarkable in their deep concentration, superb acidity and intricate structure.
Vineyards: Pahlmeyer Waters Ranch, Stagecoach, Rancho Chimiles
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Bottling
The wine was bottled unfined and lightly filtered on March 3, 2015.
Winemaking
Grape clusters were gravity-fed onto a vibrating table with two screens to sift out materials other than
grapes (MOG) while we simultaneously hand-sorted. The clusters were then then gently dropped into our
Bucher Oscyllis 200 destemmer, then another vibrating screen for a final hand sorting of the berries
before they are delivered into our open top fermenters. After five days of cold maceration, the fruit enters
primary fermentation for two to three weeks, then is gently pressed in our stainless steel basket. The wine
was then transferred to barrel to finish malolactic fermentation.
Aging
Aged in 55% new French oak Bordeaux
barrels for 16 months.
Appearance
This wine’s dark burgundy core pushes to the very edge of the glass.
