The golden straw color leads into a nose of pears, starfruit,
and notes of butterscotch. On the palate, tart apple, pear, and
ripe apricot are laced with hints of vanilla cream. The easy
finish lingers long and lovely! Barrel fermented and aged in French oak for
10 months; 100% malolactic.
The Vintage
The rainy season was dryer than normal with approximately 24
inches of rain than ended by March. This was followed by temperatures
in high 80's during the last two weeks of March that stimulated
early vineyard growth and budbreak. The season then cooled down
through April and May. We had some heat spikes in August and
again in September, but the overall temperature was generally
cooler than average. All the components of a great growing season.
Fermentation and Aging
Picked in four lots in August and September for ideal ripeness
as we worked our way down the ridge line and whole cluster pressed
a few hours
later. The juice was settled overnight,
then transferred to French oak for fermentation and 11 months
of sur lees aging.
770 cases were bottled in August 2004.
The Vineyard
Originally planted in 1979 and 1980 on predominantly AXR rootstock,
this 5-acre vineyard on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz mountains
has been replanted on St. George and 110R rootstock. The
unirrigated vineyard is on an east-west ridge and the soils change
from gravel to shallow clay as the vineyard descends from 1,000
to 900 feet.
