Dashe Cellars 2005 Late Harvest Zinfandel

Vineyard Notes:
These vines come from the Bella Winery estate, in the northern section of Dry Creek Valley. It's a perfect vineyard for creating a sweet dessert wine, because the flavors of the grapes are so intense and we are able to let the grapes hang on the vine so long without losing acidity.

Winemaker’s Notes:
Without a doubt this is one of our most popular wines, and we've increased the quantity we made in 2005 to keep up with the demand. The vintage was perfect in 2005 to make a very balanced Late Harvest zinfandel; it's one of our favorites.

We let these grapes hang on the vine over a month after the rest of the grapes were picked, to concentrate flavors and sugar. Since it was such a late harvest, we finally harvested the grapes to create this black, intense essence of zinfandel in early November, just before the rains.

We crushed the grapes to a small 1,500-gallon tank and let the natural yeast conduct the fermentation. As is our tradition, we let the fermentation proceed using the native yeasts on the grapes. The fermentation proceeded quite easily, and the yeast naturally finished fermentation when the alcohol had reached about 14.1 percent and the sugar level was 9 percent. Tasting Notes:
Purple-tinged, Deep ruby. Floral hints of jasmine and lavender, underscored by aromas of dried fruit (apricot, plums), cassis, chocolate, vanilla. Quite sweet black raspberry flavors, mixed with plum, dried apricot, and hints of cherry, chocolate, and vanilla. The explosive fruit is balanced with nice acidity, making the wine sweet but not cloying- an ideal dessert wine.

Technical Notes:

Appellation:	Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Varietals:	100% Zinfandel
Alcohol:	14.1%
Time in Oak:	4 months
Oak:	100% French; 0% new
Production:	950 cases, 375 mL
Optimum time:	2006-2014