Description
Vineyards
From our Vineyard Designate series this first bottling of Petit Verdot 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 small one ton stainless steel fermenters. Inoculated with a specific yeast the fermentation is warm and the skins punched down four times a day to facilitate extraction. Following an extended maceration of four weeks the resulting wine is pressed to all French oak barrels of which 50% are new for 18 months. This vintage was lightly fined and filtered to aid clarification.