Harvest Date October 19

Growing Season 2006 was slightly cooler overall than 2005 and began with delayed bud break due to a long, wet spring. The weather warmed in May, continuing through summer and into fall to provide the extended growing season needed for fruit to ripen fully. Harvest began late but was accelerated by mid-harvest rains in early October. Yields on Sonoma Mountain were lower than elsewhere in Sonoma County.

Winemaking

• Hand-harvested grapes
• Whole cluster, direct to press, cold
• Barrel fermented with indigenous yeasts; 5 months to completion
• Concurrent spontaneous malolactic fermentation, 6 months to completion
• Aged 10½ months in French oak barrels; 67% new, sur lies and stirred biweekly
• Unblended, unfined and unfiltered; bottled August 2007