Winemaker's Notes
This is a new wine for us. It came into existence in this vintage because it did not support or improve its usual destination, the ‘Old & Mature Vines’ blend. You might think that that would be disappointing, but it is really wonderful on its own. I kept this wine a secret until now because it might have finally fit into the ‘Old & Mature’ blend as it continued to develop in barrel. It did not. As the months have progressed, this has proven to be a wine with individuality, balance, grace, an agenda of its own and a refusal to submit to our usual blending plan. I even toyed with the idea of calling it ‘Dominatrix,’ but at the thought of the potential trouble with BATF, as well as the folks at Petrus, I settled on ‘Special Cuvée.’ Grown on the tighter clay portion of the ‘Old’ vineyard (planted in 1912), and fermented with plenty of whole grape clusters, it is probably the most exotic Zinfandel we have bottled.
