Vineyard Notes
The 2018 Grenache is a blend of two neighboring vineyards. About 60% of the Grenache is comprised of Tablas Creek Clone A grown at our neighboring Maison Maison Vineyard. The remaining Clone 362 Grenache and small addition of Syrah was grown on our Calcareous Estate Vineyard. The heavy limestone soils present on these two sites produce a unique expression of Grenache that provides ample depth and fruit yet remains true to a more elegant style with great acidity for the varietal. 2018 was the type of vintage winemakers dream of. All the necessary inputs from nature with none in excess. Plenty of soil moisture in spring followed by a warm but mild summer produced bountiful vine canopies with energy to perfectly ripen their fruit.
Winemaker Notes
Both lots of Grenache were hand harvested and fermented in 3-ton open top concrete fermenters with about 20% of the grapes remaining whole cluster. For the first 3 days of ferment 2 hour delestage were performed to press out the juice. The whole clusters were then broken up by hand in tank and twice daily punch downs were performed. After a total of 16 days on skins, the ferments were bladder pressed and the free run and press fractions combined in a single tank. After a brief 2 hour settling to remove heavy lees, the wine was racked to a mix of new and once used French oak puncheons and remained there with no further racking for 16 months. Bottled with no fining or filtration.
Production Notes
715 cases
