Nose
The wine opens with concentrated aromas of ripe blackberry and
wild blueberry, delicate notes of red raspberry and lavender, and a fresh waft of crushed slate.
Palate
The silky entry is
intense with cassis, black cherry and bitter chocolate, yet bright with red cherry and plum, grounded by notes of
crushed stone. This powerful wine crescendos into a long, lingering finish.
Extraordinary in its depth, complexity and concentration, this wine requires time, patience and decanting. Best
after 2020 it will reveal increasing opulence over time, and age gracefully well beyond twenty years of cellaring.
Growing Conditions
The 2013 growing season was ideal due to healthy vine stress brought on by drought conditions and nearly perfect
weather throughout. This vintage will be one of the most heralded in Pahlmeyer history as the wines are explosively
delicious, characterized by rich color, delicate aromas, silky mouthfeel and intense mouth-coating flavors. The
aging potential is enormous and these wines are likely to delight generations to come.
Bottling
Bottled on May 5, 2014.
Winemaking
Proprietary Red is a masterful blend of five Bordeaux varietals, crafted from 75 individually fermented lots. Each
varietal was harvested and processed separately. Grape clusters were gravity-fed onto a vibrating table with two
screens to sift out materials other than grapes while we removed by hand any fruit that did not pass visual inspection.
After gentle destemming, individual berries were then run through another hand-sorting pass to ensure only clean
fruit was delivered into the fermenters. After five days of cold maceration, the fruit entered primary fermentation for
two to six weeks, then gently basket pressed.
Aging
15% of the wine was fermented in French oak 500L puncheons, and
the remaining in new Seguin Moreau Icone and Taransaud French Oak barrels and aged for 20 months.
Appearance
Dark garnet in color and nearly black at the core
