| TASTE BENCHMARKS | |||
| Profile #1 Drinkable Style |
Profile #2 Reserve Style |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Medium red. | Amazingly dark and dense. | |
| Aroma | Bright cherry/plum/raspberry red fruit aromas with spice and tea leaf. | Bright plum and tea aromas over profound dense tarry notes | |
| Flavor | Soft, round, feminine tannins, full fruit flavors. | Surprising hardness and structure are possible on carefully selected site/clone combinations. Tannin is hard but fine and refined. | |
| Balance | Easy sipping -- soft acidity and moderate alcohol. | Intense, closed wines with good acidity and ageing potential. | |
| PRODUCTION CORRELATIONS | |||
| Oenological | Standard winemaking, 12-15 months in mixed oak. | Classic Bordolais techniques, extended maceration. | |
| Viticultural | Vigor controlled by balancing 6-7 tons per acre to prevent vegetal aromas, resulting in available wines without much tannin or ageing potential. | Clonal combinations and intensive viticulture can achieve remarkable density. | |
| Terroir | Mid Valley heavy clays. | Aggressive tannins characterize cool, breezy heavy clay sites. One cannot help thinking of the parallels with Pomerol, where the same conditions foster massive wines in that tiny appellation. | |