Description
The grapes for our 2013 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a Bordeaux‐style blend of 83% cabernet sauvignon, 9% merlot, 5% cabernet franc, and 3% petit verdot, came from top vineyards throughout the valley’s finest cabernet sauvignon appellations, including 56% from our own estate vines. Securing fruit from multiple, diverse sites enables us to craft a rich, yet elegant cabernet marrying the lush black fruit and sturdy tannins typical of the valley’s warmer northern districts with the bright fruit and acidity characteristic of its cooler southern climes. Each year, our winemaker, Julianne Laks, vinifies dozens of different lots of cabernet, assessing each one repeatedly in order to select only the very best lots for our final blend.
Each lot of our Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is separately harvested, fermented and barrel-aged before blending. Each is also cold‐soaked for two days prior to fermentation to foster early color, flavor, and tannin extraction from the skins. Tank size, yeast strain, fermentation temperature, and barrel type are specifically tailored to the fruit character of each lot. In 2013, the component wines aged six months in French oak barrels, 60% new, before being blended in April 2014. The final blend spent another 12 months in barrel before bottling in April 2015.
In 2015, 90% of the grapes for our Napa Valley Chardonnay came from the cool-climate Carneros district at the southern tip of the valley, with 40% of the fruit from our estate Carneros vineyards. Carneros enjoys a long, cool growing season that fully ripens its fruit while retaining the bright acidity that gives our Napa Valley Chardonnay its freshness and vitality. We complemented our Carneros fruit in 2015 with chardonnay grapes from just north of the city of Napa that yield especially luscious wines. This helped us craft a sumptuous, yet elegant and complex chardonnay that drinks beautifully young, but also ages gracefully in bottle.
100% of the grapes were hand-harvested at night to maximize freshness and varietal intensity. The fruit was then whole-cluster-pressed, with the free-run juice transferred to French oak barrels for fermentation. After primary fermentation completed, 29% of the wine was put through a secondary, malolactic fermentation to enrich its flavors and texture. The barrel-fermented portion of the wine aged sur lie (on the yeast lees) in 35% new French oak barrels for eight months, with periodic stirring of the lees to layer the wine’s crisp, vibrant fruit flavors with an appealingly creamy, slightly yeasty tone.
Bottle Size: 2 x 750ml
Each lot of our Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is separately harvested, fermented and barrel-aged before blending. Each is also cold‐soaked for two days prior to fermentation to foster early color, flavor, and tannin extraction from the skins. Tank size, yeast strain, fermentation temperature, and barrel type are specifically tailored to the fruit character of each lot. In 2013, the component wines aged six months in French oak barrels, 60% new, before being blended in April 2014. The final blend spent another 12 months in barrel before bottling in April 2015.
In 2015, 90% of the grapes for our Napa Valley Chardonnay came from the cool-climate Carneros district at the southern tip of the valley, with 40% of the fruit from our estate Carneros vineyards. Carneros enjoys a long, cool growing season that fully ripens its fruit while retaining the bright acidity that gives our Napa Valley Chardonnay its freshness and vitality. We complemented our Carneros fruit in 2015 with chardonnay grapes from just north of the city of Napa that yield especially luscious wines. This helped us craft a sumptuous, yet elegant and complex chardonnay that drinks beautifully young, but also ages gracefully in bottle.
100% of the grapes were hand-harvested at night to maximize freshness and varietal intensity. The fruit was then whole-cluster-pressed, with the free-run juice transferred to French oak barrels for fermentation. After primary fermentation completed, 29% of the wine was put through a secondary, malolactic fermentation to enrich its flavors and texture. The barrel-fermented portion of the wine aged sur lie (on the yeast lees) in 35% new French oak barrels for eight months, with periodic stirring of the lees to layer the wine’s crisp, vibrant fruit flavors with an appealingly creamy, slightly yeasty tone.
Bottle Size: 2 x 750ml