Nose
A bright bouquet of lavender, bergamot, and cassia bark.
Palate
Wet stone, white pepper, and nutmeg accent a core of blueberry and bramble fruit. Expansive and concentrated without overripe fruit and intrusive amounts of new oak. The long, expansive finish is driven by natural tannins and acidity.
Growing Conditions
Yellow Bird Vineyard, which is a high elevation vineyard that utilizes dry farming and sustainable farming practices produces fruit with extremely low yields (2.5 tons per acre), tiny berries, and sparse clusters.
Harvest
The fruit was harvested and sorted by hand in late September with about 50% of the fruit left as whole cluster. Feral primary and secondary fermentations were employed with only yeast hulls and oxygen used to aid fermentations. A 3 day cold soak was used as was extended maceration with the wine staying on skins for approximately 32 days.
Aging
In 2017, we used extended barrel aging of 20 months in all French oak, approximately 20% of which was new. The wine was never racked and remained on lees for all 19 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
