Nose
Peppery spice, currant, cherry, and coconut on the nose.
Palate
The entry is smooth and loaded with blackberry, underbrush, raspberry and black tea flavors. The nice structure is framed by elegant tannins leading to the lingering finish.
Growing Conditions
Gravelly soils are responsible for some of the world’s greatest wines. With their superior draining properties and lack of nutrients, they encourage better balanced vines, less sprawl, smaller berries and more intense wines. Gravel Bed Red, as the name suggests, is a proprietary blend showcasing some of the best gravelly sites in Sonoma County. Our 2015 bottling features Cabernet from two superb, rocky/volcanic sites in Sonoma Valley: Cherryblock and Vimark. The Cabernet Sauvignon from the Cherryblock vineyard is a blend of young and old vines. All of the Merlot in the blend came from the Cherryblock vineyard, and a small amount of Malbec from Mission vineyard was added to round out the final blend.
Harvest
2015 was a fantastic vintage producing high quality fruit. It began with an earlier than average bud break and an intense, compacted harvest beginning earlier than average as well. The high temperatures in August and early September accelerated maturity and picking times. Overall, this was an early and light harvest with smaller berries and concentrated flavors that produced exceptional quality fruit.
Bottling
The wine was bottled in late January of 2017.
Winemaking
We cold soaked many of the lots to increase color and flavor extraction. All of the grapes were fermented warm and only a small portion of press wine was included for aromatics and structure. After fermentation, all of the individual lots were racked off the lees and put into a combination of French and Hungarian oak barrels for 10 months. A small portion was put into American oak for a lesser extent.
Aging
10 months in French, Hungarian and American oak barrels.
Appearance
Deep ruby with purple hues.
