Vintage Summary

2013 started off with a cool, dry winter followed by an early spring. Spring was quick, as the strong northwesterly winds lasted for only a few weeks. The lack of wind coupled with the spring and summer warmth yielded vigorous canopy growth in the vines. As the summer progressed into fall, temperatures decreased allowing the grapes to ripen slowly and retain their acidity. The grapes were harvested September 20th under the harvest moon.

Winemaking

The grapes were picked clean and no botrytised fruit was retained. At the winery the grapes were given six hours of whole cluster maceration to extract tannins, aroma, and flavor compounds in the skins, followed by a gentle press cycle. No sulfur was added to allow the juice to oxidize slightly. After a 36 hour cold settle in tank, the clean juice was racked off the solids into another tank. Halfway thru the primary fermentation in tank, the wine was racked by gravity into neutral barriques to finish primary fermentation. Went thru full malolactic fermentation to ensure stability as wine was bottled unfiltered. The wine was racked to tank and cold stabilized two months prior to bottling. Bottled June 13th, 2014.

Wine Stats

Brix at harvest: 20.3

Titratable Acidity: 8.5 g/L

pH: 3.03

Residual Sugar: 0.0 g/L

Alcohol: 12.4%

Filtration: None

Fining: None