Ahlgren 1998 Tre Vini Rossi

Winemaking Notes:
The cool summer and relatively short fall of 1998 made late ripening grapes, such as Nebbilo difficult to ripen as fully as we desire. The Cabernet Franc at Bates’ had been a little over-cropped for such a cool year, and they too never came to the ripeness we expect in a warmer year. Well into November of ’98 we could see that, with cooling weather and occasional rain, these grapes were not getting any riper. It was essential to pick, if there were to be any grapes from these vines at all.

No big Cabernet Franc or Nebbiolo from 1998, but the wines developed into very pleasant, light and palatable wines in the barrel. Still, they were not really complete in themselves, and so a number of blending trials were undertaken, resulting in the delightful wine- Nebbiolo 53%, Cabernet Franc 41%, given a bit more “bottom” by the a ddition of 6% Bates’ Cabernet Sauvignon.

The results are so suggestive of delightful Italian red table wines that we gave it an Italian name, “Tre Vini Rossi”, which translates into “Three Red Wines.”

Tasting Notes:
Compared to the established Ahlgren style of full-bodied and mouth-filling reds, you might be tempted to call this a quaffing wine, bit it isn’t. It has great fruit, some sophistication and an interesting complexity that make for a very sound food wine: fruity, distinctive and tasty. With bottle age, it has taken on a roundness and very pleasant texture in the mouth…

Technical Notes:

Appellation:	Santa Cruz Mountains
Crushed:	11/6/98 – 11/22/98
Average Brix :	21.5
Yeast:	UCD 595
Barrels:	American Oak
Production:	337 cases