Harvest Date October 11

Growing Season The 2007 growing season was preceded by a mild, dry winter. Bud break came early and set a crop of tight clusters of small berries. Summer brought ideal weather with warm, even temperatures through veraison. Several heat spikes in August suggested that crush might begin early 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-day cold soak, 19 days total maceration
• Hand-punched cap
• Concurrent, spontaneous malolactic fermentation in barrels
• Aged 18 months in French oak barrels; 67% new
• Unblended, unfined and unfiltered; bottled April 2009