Winemaking is a combination of art and science, cooking and chemistry. Like a memorable meal, it’s about the source and quality of the ingredients, the interplay of flavors, textures, and technique. Cabernet is the dominant flavor and forms the mid-palate structure and the long finish. Cabernet Franc adds a chocolate like experience at the top of your palate. Merlot give it more nose. Malbec fills in the lower back, like blackberries. Petit Verdot adds a touch of spice and Syrah adds depth to the bottom of your palate The blend is full bodied, perfectly balanced and mellow.

Tasting notes

The color is deep, dark and brilliant. The nose is true to Cabernet with a bit of leather, some allspice and cedar. The taste unfolds in long linear strokes from front to back. The tannin is definitively Cabernet typical but without being obtrusive or dominant. All the elements are harmonious and integrated. The wine is dry yet gentle for a Cab. The finish is long and lingering. It is an elegant, friendly Cabernet that is perfect with red meat and grilled foods.

The Vineyards

Five Sonoma Valley vineyards, under contract with Deerfield, supplied grapes for this blend. The Cabernet is from four distinct terroirs, an upper mountain slope, a rocky mountain valley, and a steep terraced hillside, all in the Sonoma Valley AVA. This contributed to the complexity of the Cabernet flavors, and structure. The varietals rounding out this Meritage style blend were from two vineyards each. This is more than a blend of varietals. It is a blend of places, distinctive and unique.

Vintage

2012 was perfect. It followed two very challenging ones so the vines were ready to strut their stuff, showing just how good Sonoma County grapes can be. It is often compared to 2013, also a strong vintage. Like so many even numbers vintage before it, the 2012 reds show more elegance than the 2013, which are bolder. We expect the 12’s to have a very long life.

The Winemaking

Each lot was fermented and aged separately. After triple sorting the handpicked grapes, a fermentation protocol, from yeast selection, to temperature control, feeding, oxygenation, and maceration times was implemented for each lot. We age many of our red wines longer in the barrel than any other American winery. Long barrel aging softens tannins and integrates flavors into a balanced harmony.

Cross flow clarified before bottling, sterile bottled, Velcorin free. Low histamine. SO2 at bottling 20 ppm, at release, less than 12 ppm.