This wine is made from unblended, 100% estate-grown, cellared, and bottled grapes. The color is a deep garnet. The nose evokes notes of plums, currants, dark cherries, and a hint of richly tanned leather. In the mouth, cassis, blackberries, cherries, a touch of cedar on the finish, and easy tannins – lovely to enjoy even now. The finish has a lilting softness that lingers long.
The grapes were picked by hand in multiple lots, destemmed, and fermented in small lots with hand punch down four times a day. After pressing, the wine went through malolactic fermentation and 21 months of barrel aging.
Valley View is a 3-acre on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Planted in 1989, the soils of this south-facing vineyard change from gravel to shallow clay as the steep, terraced vineyard descends from 1,060 to 960 feet.
The 2004 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.