Release Dates: First Bottling—Summer, 1976; Second Bottling—Winter, 1976

Release notes are from the Second Bottling:

After the overwhelming response to our First Bottling, we are pleased to announce the release of the Second Bottling of our 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon.

The ripe 25° Brix grapes were stemmed and crushed directly in to 1000 gallon stainless steel fermenters. Fermentation was complete within ten days. After pressing, the new wine was pumped directly into Nevers Oak barrels, or barriques, imported from Bordeaux. The Cabernet was racked in mid-December and twice a year thereafter. Increased complexity and softness were contributed by a slow, gentle malolactic fermentation which finished early in the summer of 1974.

A fresh egg white fining the following spring mellowed the wine sufficiently for the first bottling in August 1975. The balance of the Cabernet was allowed to age in barrel for an additional six months, and the second bottling took place in January 1976.

A total of two and one-half years of maturation in Nevers Oak has produced a wine of subtle complexity which should expand for many years to come. This mouth filling Cabernet is a rich blend of fruit and oak with peppery undertones. The future elegance of this wine is assured by generous amounts of acid and tannin.