Growing Conditions
Although the 2008 growing season was cooler than average, it offered wines with
lower alcohols and ripe tannins. Flowering occurred the week of June 14th, with
veraison finishing during a dry summer, with highs only in the 90s. No rain fell in the
Horse Heaven Hills from veraison until harvest.
Harvest
Harvest began at 115 days from
flowering on October 10th. This length of time for fruit to develop on the vine is
equivalent to the finest vintages of Bordeaux cabernet sauvignon. Brix of 24.0°, a pH
of 3.5 and total acidity of 6.2, along with brown seeds and color-filled ripe skins in
both the syrah and cabernet yielded this classically built wine. The syrah, (which was
harvested one day earlier than the cabernet), had one more gram of acid than the
cabernet.
Winemaking
After destemming and delivering the uncrushed fruit by gravity to
Taransaud wooden ferment tanks, we fermented for 21 days on skins allowing
generous extract.
Aging
The free-run wines used for this bottling were barreled in half-new
and half-used Taransaud and Bel Air Château barrels for 20 months at which point
they were bottled unfiltered. By strict selection of the best lots, our final cellar blend
was made from only 50% of the vintage yield.
