Tasting Notes

This wine has a beautiful dark ruby color, tinged with purple. The nose is rich with ripe currants, maraschino cherries, and raspberries. As this wine stays open, its aromas broaden and expand to include tobacco leaves, pie spices, and shaved dark chocolate. In the mouth, this wine is lush. The flavors match the nose with ripe currants. The acid is beautiful, focusing this wine and giving it that energy and life that is so important in a Red Mare Wine. The tannins of this wine are bold, making it the perfect match for a beautiful steak or a rich game dish. 10/25/11

This wine is holding up beautifully.  The fruit is persistence itself with brightness and generosity.  The body has relaxed a bit and the wine has become more focused with age.  Lots of beautiful bottle bouquets is coming through, potpourri, graphite, and fig.  Drink Now 10/10/2019

Vintage Notes

The 2008 vintage was a wild ride.  To describe it as 'challenging' is an understatement.  Yet, even with these challenges, or perhaps because of them, 2008 has produced exceptional wines.  The larger La Niña weather pattern, which we'd experienced in 2007, delivered an early dry Spring, contributing to a growing drought scenario and early bud break.  Extended frost events, the worst experienced in several decades, took their toll, while high wind events also damaged young shoots in some places.  These factors delayed the vines in many locations and resulted in a low crop level.  Dry soils lead to scant canopies, and small berries, further contributing to low yields. When summer did break, it was kind to us with cool days.  We were thankful for those small canopies which allowed good exposure.  Though the roller coaster was not yet over.  Late August and early September gave us several sustained heat spikes, pushing ripeness. Mid-September cooled, and we were not to see temperatures much above 90 for the rest of the year.  The days around harvest were cool, allowing the final ripening process to be slow and steady, even if the vintage as a whole, was not.