With its silky texture and abundant black cherry fruit, this elegant offering opens with the Alexander Valley's characteristic black cherry and tea aromas and finishes soft with complex, earthy soil flavors. A favorite among our wine club members.

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About This Wine:

This offering has typical black cherry and tea-like aromas, indicative of Alexander Valley Cabernet, but with nice shades of vanilla and toasty oak. Although this wine is not as plush or jammy as previous vintages, it has a silky texture with abundant black cherry fruit that makes it quite appealing now. It was crafted to be more elegant than powerful. It finishes soft with complex, earthy soil flavors. This wine is a joy to drink now, but will become more multi-faceted aromatically and even more delicious and elegant with additional bottle age.

Wine Profile:

Vintage:	2006
Wine Type:	Red Wine
Varietal:	Cabernet Sauvignon
Varietal Composition:
76%	Cabernet Sauvignon
14%	Merlot
6%	Malbec
4%	Petite Verdot
Appellation:	Alexander Valley
Acid:	0.52 g/100ml
PH:	3.71
Aging:	13 months in mostly French, some American oak
Bottling Date:	May 2008
Alcohol %:	14.2%

Ratings:

4.5 Stars from the Press Democrat Sept. 2009

Awards:
Gold Medal- 2009 Sonoma County Harvest Fair

Vineyard Notes:
Although we sourced Cabernet Sauvignon throughout the Alexander Valley, each of the vineyards is grown on gravelly, alluvial soils that perfectly suit Bordeaux varietals. These soils are very well drained and the depress vigor and vegetal flavors in the wine, while increasing concentration and finesse. 36% of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes came from the Lyon Vineyard from the Old Vine block containing Clones # 4 & 6. 22% of the Cabernet Sauvignon came from two vineyards from the Geyserville area, and the remaining 18% of the Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced throughout the appellation.

Production Notes:
We cold soaked both Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, leading to a slow fermentation in the beginning. We warmed up the must mid-fermentation in order to fully extract color and flavor. The wine was pressed off of the skins before fermentation was complete, but only free run and light press fractions were used. The lots were racked once, then re-racked into both new and 1-year-old Tonnellerie Treuil French Chateau oak barrels. Malolactic fermentation was completed in barrels and assemblage took place in early Spring of 2006 using Merlot at this stage. We re-blended the wine 4 months later using Petite Verdot and Malbec, at which point the wine was aged in 1-year-old French barrels, along with 20% New “Grand Cru” Canton American Oak barrels.

Winemaker Notes:
The 2006 vintage got off to a late start with later bud break for Red Bordeaux varieties. Spring was erratic, making the set normal and delaying the ripening season by two weeks. Summer was mild to moderate with just one heat wave in late July. However, the weather remained foggy and mild from August to late September. Fortunately, the we had summer-like weather in October and we were able to pick ripe, Alexander Valley Merlot and Malbec, followed by Petite Verdot. The Cabernet Sauvignon harvest commenced the last week in October and finished with the Lyon vineyard on November 6 th . We were also fortunate to have few rains, and the extra hang time helped to soften the tannins and add more opulence to the blend. Yet, this vintage was devoid of excessive vegetal aromas and flavors.

Other Notes:
Release Date: October 2008

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