Description
Vineyards
From our Vineyard Designate series this bottling of Cabernet Sauvignon hails from the upper blocks at our Cavedale Ranch property. Red volcanic soils littered with rocks and boulders grace the south facing slopes that capture the full extent of the sun at 620 feet above sea level. Cool afternoon breezes help moderate the temperatures and allow for extended periods of ripening. Relatively closely planted rows are trained to the classic VSP system and meticulously maintained by hand. Full leaf removal in the fruit zone is employed to air color and tannin development.
Winemaking Techniques
Hand-harvested grapes from low yielding vines are picked in the cool early mornings, the fruit brought directly to the winery to be crushed to a six ton stainless steel fermenter. The resulting must is inoculated with a specific yeast known for the production of long-lived Cabernet. The fermentation is warm and the wine pumped over three times a day to facilitate extraction, including a daily delestage where by the wine is removed to another tank before pumping back over the skins that remained in the original tank. Following an extended maceration of four weeks the resulting wine is pressed to 100% new French oak barrels for 18 months. This vintage is neither fined nor filtered.
