Tech Notes
Yield: 2.0 tons per acre
Harvest: September 18th-October 30th
Numbers @ Harvest: 23.0 Brix, 3.4 pH, 8.0 grams acidity
Cepage: 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot & 2% Petit Verdot
Barrel Regimen: French 50%; American 50%–3/4 new; aged 22 months in barrel
Bottling: August 2010; no fining or filtration
Alcohol: 13.5%
Tasting Notes
Release Date: Fall 2012
Vineyards in the Sky, the memoir about the life of our founder Martin Ray, mentions that in his thirty years of experience, twenty-five inches of winter rainfall was a harbinger of a great vintage. Twenty-five inches is what we received from the skies in 2008. This amount is considered a drought and we had an even drier year in 2007. Under this severe water stress the vines produce a lot less fruit and this Cabernet vintage resulted in the magical blend of power and weightlessness which is what we strive for.
To quote Robert Parker Jr.’s Wine Advocate tasting notes: “The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate comes across as silky, perfumed and impeccably balanced. Dark red berries, flowers, mint and spices flesh out in this gracious and medium-bodied wine. The Estate is all about subtly and class. Sweet floral notes reappear to frame the exquisite finish.”
This is a complete expression of our mountaintop vineyard. Unfined, unfiltered and fermented on indigenous yeasts, this wine should reach full development by 2018.
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