Vineyard Notes
Kate’s Vineyard consist of 10 acres planted entirely to Zinfandel that we have farmed since 2002. Located less than a mile south east of the Calcareous Estate, it shares almost identical chalky soils. 2018 was a winemaker’s dream vintage with perfectly balanced ripening occuring in the vineyards. Sugars were kept low as flavors developed and acids mellowed. It was one of those rare years where the wines truly made themselves with no intervention necessary outside of deciding when to press the wines at the desired level of extraction.
Winemaker Notes
The fruit was handpicked and cluster sorted before destemming. The fruit was gravity fed, uncrushed, into 4-ton open top concrete fermenters. All the free run juice was immediately drained off to concentrate the ferment. Twice daily pump overs were performed for the first 8 days of fermentation, followed by a move to a punch-down protocol. After 12 days, the juice was pressed off the skins and settled in tank for 2 days. From here, the wine was racked to barrel and allowed to finish malolactic fermentation. Another racking was performed, a bit of our Estate Cabernet was blended in to add structure. The resulting wine was aged 16 months in 40% new American and Hungarian oak barrels. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Production Notes
840 cases
