Nose
The nose is full
of Washington blueberries, dark chocolate, cedar, and elegant blended complexity with
a balanced weight and texture.
Palate
The youthful cabernet franc dominates the palate with
full fruit, beetroot, and plentiful dusty tannins.
Growing Conditions
The 2004 vintage
are like the 1992s to me. They’re red in color with aromatic strengths. While the best ‘92
Washington wines are drinking very well today, these 2004 wines from Buty offer finer
texture and fruit purity than the 90’s wines. Our 2004s are better wines due to our far
more intelligent vineyard management than the previous decade’s wines from
Washington. Youthful now, the balanced fruit and tannin, will allow this wine to age
twenty years or more. Meanwhile decanting is recommended.
Harvest
All our fruits at Buty are hand harvested. The Conner Lee cabernet franc we harvested
on October At Conner Lee we grow pounds per plant, less than two bottles per plant,
and equivalent to Bordeaux First Growth per hectare harvest limits. The Champoux
Vineyard cabernet franc was hand-harvested on September 22nd, at full maturity. The
merlot from Spring Creek Vineyard was harvested on September.
Bottling
November 29th, 2004.
Winemaking
We macro-oxygenated
during ferment in opentop tanks and hand punched down. Basket pressed, the wines
finished sugar and malolactic ferment in barrels.
Aging
Aged entirely in traditional French
Bordeaux Chateau barrels, 40% new, for 13 months, the blend was finished and eggwhite fined prior to bottling.
