Nose
The beginning is earthy, tobacco, blackberry and plum. The remainder of the nose is intense
cassis.
Palate
Deep and Darth Vader
Dark the palate is intense
blackberry with a light dusting
of cedar. Fine integrated tannins
create a latticework around a
black cherry core.
Growing Conditions
The 2012 growing season came in
like a lion, cooler than normal and above average rain
through the spring. The sky cleared during the first week
of June and things began to dry out and temperatures in
June and July were average. It warmed up in August and
temperatures stayed above average with only light rain
through October. Overall the season was a little late but
Mother nature gave us a great growing season and perfectly balanced fruit and spice characters with plenty of
Washington terroir.
Harvest
We generally harvest our Cabernet Sauvignon later in the season than most wineries. We rely on both chemical analysis and flavor analysis to determine
ripeness. Often the grapes will reach sugar targets long before they taste ripe. When they
taste ripe, the cabernet sauvignon clusters are hand harvested, hand sorted, destemmed and
lightly crushed.
Winemaking
We only use gravity to move the crushed crapes and juice. Fermentations in
2012 Averaged 27 days. With the shortest being 12 days and the longest being 41 days. No
pressed wine is used in making Moonspell.
Aging
20 months in 33% New Oak; 66% French Oak,
28% American oak & 6% Hungarian Oak.
