93 Points, James Suckling
91 Points, The Wine Advocate
91 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
90 Points, Wine Enthusiast
Winemaker’s Notes
A powerful, full-bodied Merlot with distinctive sense of place in its opening aromas of black plum, black raspberry, mocha, earthy spice and toasted oak. The palate is filled with concentrated layers of black cherry, dark chocolate, clove and toffee notes. Firmly textured and elegant with a pleasing long finish.
Winemaking
The fruit was hand-harvested in the cool morning hours and brought to the winery in half-ton bins. The clusters were sorted using a double sorting system. First, the clusters were sorted by hand, then run through a small de-stemmer before the individual berries were sorted to ensure that the ideal grapes were chosen. Sorted berries were delivered to a fermenter where there was a period of resting on skins. Warm fermentation temperatures were encouraged along with gentle cap maceration to achieve the desired color and structure for the wine before an extended maceration time on skins prior to pressing. The wine was transferred directly to barrel for 19 months of maturation.
Forty eight percent of the sorted berries in this blend was fermented in French oak barrels. After fermentation, the wine remained in those same barrels for aging. Twenty-eight percent of the blend was fermented in small concrete tanks. The different fermentation techniques add layers and textures to the wine.