One hundred percent handpicked and sorted, the grapes for this vintage were harvested in one lot and placed in several small French oak barrels for cold soak and fermentation. Barrel fermenting red wines is an unusual practice, partly because it’s so labor intensive. But with small lots such as this it can be achieved, and we love how the oak interacts with the juice, softly and gradually extracting color, flavor and tannin. We also like how the wood and wine tannins start to integrate at this early phase. After fermentation, the free run wine was taken off the lees and returned to barrel where it aged for 21 months. The wine was bottled without fining.
From a classic vintage in every sense, our Windfall Cabernet Sauvignon is a beautifu
...more... lly proportioned wine bursting with dark fruits – blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, rhubarb – and warm baking spices of cinnamon and clove. There’s an abundance to this wine, with lavish notes of dark chocolate and roasted espresso beans along with undertones of deep loamy, dusty soils – that signature “Rutherford Dust” -- that evolves into flavors of coffee liqueur and licorice. Framed by a full tannin structure, this is a towering Cabernet Sauvignon that finishes with supple yet elegant tannins and drawn out notes of fruit and spice.
