2018 For the Love of the Game
Tasting notes
Deep ruby color with a lovely bouquet of black cherry, cassis, cedar, lead pencil, leather, eucalyptus, allspice, and thyme. It has palate notes of cassis, blackberry, black cherry, gravel, minerals, allspice, thyme, eucalyptus, leather, and cigar tobacco. This wine shows perfect balance between the fruit extract, oak tones, vibrant acidity, and slightly firm tannins. The exceptionally long finish has pure notes of cassis, dark chocolate, cigar tobacco, and smoky incense. Overall, the wine has great purity, elegance, and concentration. This classically styled wine should reach maturity in 8-10 years and gracefully evolve for 20+ years.
Production notes
The wine had a pre-fermentation maceration of 176 hours. 100% Native fermentation. The wine was punched down by hand 2 times each day during maceration and fermentation. All individual wine components, including free run and press fractions, were kept separate until final blending. The oak profile is 60% new French oak (predominantly from Troncais and Alliers) and 40% neutral French oak. The wine achieved its sparkly brilliance from 4 judicious rackings, no fining agents were employed. The wine was very lightly filtered to capture any remaining lees. The alcohol is 14.39%, pH is 3.63, and the titratable acidity is 6.0 g/L. 97 cases produced.
