Winemaker Notes

Floral, citrus, and clean mineral aromatics along with a firm backbone of acidity is the first impression. With time in the glass, notes of honeysuckle, graphite and nutmeg come forward. Intense and multi-layered flavors of apricot, Meyer lemon, caramel and yellow pear are mouth-filling and lasting. Sleek acidity keeps the flavors lively and balances the richness keeping the wine alive. The overall structure, depth and intensity means a very long life with tremendous grace for many years to come. Decanting one to two hours before serving is recommended.

Climate and Harvest

2013 was an exceptional winegrowing season. Vintners and growers throughout California & Alexander Valley reported another high quality and generous vintage. Following a warm and dry spring with near ideal conditions for bringing grapes to maturity, harvest was remarkably smooth, and wineries are at capacity and working with some very high quality winegrapes.

Early on, the season was marked by healthy winter rains, followed by a spring and summer that showed some of the lowest rainfalls we have seen in a long time. There were very few frost nights in the spring, a few significant heat spikes and almost no high wind events. All of this - combined with uniform growing days - is exactly what a winemaker wants to see leading up to harvest. Across the board, our fruit showed great balance of acidity and sugar, good color, and tannin structure with optimal flavor development.

As winemakers, our intention is to reveal the true character of our land + soils through the variations of clones and this year was no exception with 7 of the 11 clones chosen. Flavors range widely with intense, ripe concentration of peach, yellow apple, and lemon flavors. Night harvesting our fruit at midnight, whole cluster pre-fermentation maturations occur one and a half days in stainless steel tanks allowing the skins to soften releasing gentle tannins and mineral richness.