Harvest Date September 22 & 27

Growing Season The 2007 growing season was preceded by a mild, dry winter. Bud break came early and set a crop of small clusters and highly concentrated berries. Summer brought ideal weather with warm, even temperatures through veraison. Several heat spikes in August anticipated an early start to crush, but temperatures cooled in early September, allowing ample time for phenolics as well as sugars to reach optimum levels. The result was a slow, steady harvest of exceptional quality, with wines showing great intensity and structure.

Winemaking

• Hand-harvested grapes
• Fermented in small, open-top stainless steel fermentors with indigenous yeasts
• 5- to-6-day cold soak, 15 to 16 days total maceration
• Hand-punched cap
• Concurrent, spontaneous malolactic fermentation in barrels
• Aged 15 months in French oak barrels; 68% new
• Unblended, unfined and unfiltered; bottled January 2009