Harvest Date September 30

Growing Season The warm, dry soils at the end of February triggered budbreak a month early. A temperate summer with moderate, steady temperatures allowed the fruit to reach optimal maturity with good hang time for the full development of character and flavors.

Winemaking

• Hand-harvested grapes
• Fermented in open-top stainless steel fermentors
• 5-day cold maceration, 28 days total maceration
• Fermentation with indigenous yeast
• Malolactic fermentation in barrels
• Aged 22-months in French Demptos and Taransaud , and American Demptos and Seguin Moreau oak barrels, 45% new
• Unblended, unfined; bottled August 1999