Winemaker's Notes
Our eighth vintage from this site near Annapolis in the Northwestern corner of the Sonoma Coast AVA, as I said last year, I have become very comfortable with this area’s idiosyncrasies. It goes from under-ripe to over-ripe in a heartbeat. One must be ready to act when ripeness is close at hand. I am grateful to work with vineyard manager Kirk Lokka at this site for so many years. He understands what I’m looking for and also understands his site perfectly, making him a perfect partner in this wine. It’s good to know thy partners in business. Thine understanding of this is more useful than knowing when to use thy or thine in a sentence. Hear ye.
As before, this wines’ signature is a sesame/mincemeat sort of spiciness. 2013 tends more toward an earthy/loamy side and some sassafras and even cassis! With air, it shows boysenberry fruits emerging from the savory nest. In the mouth, there is an interesting Iron-like/Santa Rosa plum nexus that flows into a cassis vibe before it settles into a general echo of the above with good mid-palate density and a gently pervasive upward trajectory of acidity that carries it on thru a very long finish.