Harvest Date October 5 & 6

Growing Season 1995 produced a tiny crop at Dinner. Plant vigor was good but not excessive. Berries were unusually small correlating to remarkably flavorful fruit. Moreover, the growing season was excellent with only a bit of a scare caused by two hot spells during the period leading up to harvest . Hot dry air provoked a dehydration response in most vineyards and many succumbed. The Dinner vineyard, however, is deeply rooted. It also benefits from a protected exposure. The plants endured the assault allowing a pick under peak weather conditions, late in the season.

Winemaking

• Hand-harvested grapes
• Whole cluster, direct-to-press
• Barrel fermented with indigenous yeast, 2 to 5 months to completion
• Concurrent spontaneous malolactic fermentation
• Barrel aged 10 months, 42% new French oak, sur-lies and stirred
• Unblended, unfined, unfiltered; bottled August 1996