The fruit was hand sorted, destemmed with the high whole berry content.  It was cold soaked for 7 days before being inoculated and fermented for 11 days with the maximum temperature of 90 degrees and then put through extended maceration for another three weeks.  The malolactic fermentation took place in the barrel. The wines were racked 5 times before being blended in June of 2006 with Merlot and Cabernet Franc before being bottled in August of 2006.

Elegant oak on the nose gives way fairly quickly to plum, spice, and bacon fat, rounded out by the vineyard’s signature aromas of rhubarb and orange peel.   In its youth the wine is tight, chewy and tannic, which open up with at least a hour of aeration.   At its core, though, it shows hints of kirsch liqueur, candied raspberry, black cherry, and an underlying minerality. Based on our experience with the vineyard, these complexities will more fully reveal themselves with time in the bottle.