| We always look forward to sharing with you our new wines. This spring we are proud to release our 2006 Sonoma County Red Wine. I first began working with blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah many years ago as special reserve offerings for wine club members. I found this particular blend to produce an especially full bodied wine. The entry is warm intense Cabernet Sauvignon that seamlessly melts into Syrah in the mid palate. The delicate but distinct balance of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon harmonizes with sweet tannins and opulent fruit. The 2006 is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon and 36% Syrah. A dark ruby richly concentrated blend of varietals boasting of ripe blackberry, raspberry, white pepper and creamy oak with a long intense finish. Only 187 cases were bottled.
The Cabernet comes from 40 to 50 year old vines from a vineyard located in the Dry Creek Valley. I was fortunate to know the grower from previous vintages and he offered the fruit to me because the winery he was contracted with only wanted the fruit from the newly planted section of the vineyard and overlooked the old vines. What luck for me and for you! These were beautiful head trained vines, gnarled and twisted over the years. The clusters of fruit were small, darkly colored and bursting with flavor. Timing was perfect, they were picked by hand at the end of harvest, gently destemmed and allowed to ferment after a 4 day cold soak. We did not inoculate with commercial yeast, the yeast that were present on the fruit were allowed to perform the fermentation. This produces a much broader flavor profile with many layers of complexity and depth of flavor.
We found a small block of Syrah from Sonoma Valley that blended synergistically with the Dry Creek Cabernet. Both varietals were aged in 30% new French oak barrels: St Martin, Taransaud and Vernou. These wines remained in barrel from November 2006 until November 2008. It is unusual to find wines that are aged for a full 2 years in barrel. Over the years I have found that the longer barrel age adds elegance and texture that often is missing in younger wines. |
