100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the 6 Prong Vineyard. Its production is a long and exacting one requiring the fruit to be hand sorted, fermented in small, open top fermenters, and then gently pressed. Entirely hand made, this wine expresses the true essence, aroma and character of the varietal.
Detailed Info, Previous Vintage Notes, Reviews:
Prior vintage notes
Scents of blackberry, herbs, sweet spices, and an intriguing floral note that's almost honeysuckle are followed by flavors of black and red cherry and a tannic, but not bitter finish that softens in the mouth. A food wine more than a sipper, with structure to handle strongly flavored dishes, garlic, roasted meats, and strong cheeses.
This wine is made from 10-15 year old vines, and is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Made with fruit from Elerding Vineyard's "Six Prong" site in Alderdale, the site is on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River, with chalky soil suited to Bordeaux varietals. "Six Prong" is a comparatively low yield, weather and soil stressed vineyard, producing about 3 tons of fruit per acre.
In production of this wine, the grapes were hand sorted, then lightly crushed and destemmed to break the skins but to not crush the seeds (you don't want to crush the seeds or you get tannins that create undesirable drying and "puckery" tannins in the wine). The wine was open top fermented in 1.5 ton bins after a 3-4 day cold soak. Grapes were cold soaked to get the most essence and flavor from the grape skins. The grapes were innoculated with commercial yeast, and were fermented to dryness in about 10 days at room temperature. The wine was settled in stainless steel tanks for 48 hours, then transferred to 2 year old oak barrels.
The winemaker is not fond of over-oaked wines, he likes tannins and depth of fruit flavor to come from the fruit itself, so he uses 2 year old barrels, which impart much less oak flavor to the wine. The wine was aged in barrel from November 2004 to July 2005, when it was bottled.
