With alluring notes of brown sugar and mushroom, the Petit Verdot is highly approachable. There’s a flinty bit of gun metal on the nose before the palate is introduced to blueberry jam and refreshing spearmint. Big and chewy, the body of the wine rests on the shoulders of broad yet succulent tannins. There’s a noticeable gust of freshness on the mid palate before an ideal finish of espresso that concludes the wine like a proper nightcap. Drink now though 2030 and pair it up with roasted game hen or your favorite pungent cheese
The 2022 growing season in Napa Valley saw record-breaking weather events, with 80% of the total rainfall arriving before the new year. This filled vineyard ponds for the first time in two years but was followed by the driest three months on record, leading to an early bud break. Despite the dry spell, healthier canopies resulted from earlier rains. The summer was generally average but slightly warmer than 2021. Harvest started 5 to 7 days earlier than the previous year and was 15% lighter but of exceptional quality. A Labor Day heat wave accelerated harvest, later cooled by a late September rain event. Overall, the 2022 harvest was the most condensed in recent memory.
Harvested between September 22nd and September 28th, the grapes were hand-harvested at night when temperatures often dip to 50˚F to capture vibrant acidity and fruit expression in the wine. We first cold-soaked the must (crushed grapes) for gentle extraction and then fermented in stainless steel, concrete, and oak barrel fermenters at 92˚F. Rigorous pump-overs, increasing during the peak of the fermentation, developed deep color, rich varietal character and fine tannins in the wine. The wine was aged in 35% new French oak barrels to meld the bright fruit expression with oak spice nuances. After three months of aging, we blended the vineyard components and allow them to marry for a total of 20 months of barrel élevage. This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered to present the attributes of the vineyard in the purest form possible, from the dirt to the glass!
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