Winemaker's Notes
The color is deep, rich maroon. The nose offers aromas of ripe plum and cherry scented with black tea and cedar. The generous, silky palate welcomes you with luxuriant flavors of black cherry, cola, apple pastry and plum, beautifully woven with notes of dusty rose and warm space. Toasty oak and firm, well-integrated tannins mark its long finish. Alcohol 14.6%
Harvest
Harvest Date
September 21 – October 8
Harvest Brix
25.4° – 26.2°
Growing Season
The Russian River Valley experienced unusual cooling and warming trends throughout the growing season of 2003, calling for meticulous work in the vineyard from spring to fall. Careful attention to the vines, combined with generous amounts of sunlight over the long days of summer, reaped fruit of complexity and intensity.
Winemaking
• Hand-harvested grapes
• Fermented in small, open-top stainless steel fermentors with indigenous yeasts; 5 months to completion
• 5-day cold soak, 21 days total maceration
• Hand-punched cap
• Spontaneous malolactic fermentation in barrels; 3 months to completion
• Aged 12 months in small French oak barrels; 54% new
• Unfined and unfiltered; bottled January 2005
