Tasting Notes:
An incredible buy, Merlot’s glorious richness and mouthwatering fruits are on display in our 2016 vintage, offering deeply intense blackberry and black plum flavors layered with sweet oak spices, and a fresh, earthy complexity (oregano, eucalyptus) on a palate with firm, velvety tannins balanced by the refreshing acidity.
Blend:
76% Merlot
24% Cabernet Sauvignon
Vineyard Notes:
Generous winter rains helped alleviate the drought conditions of the past four years, and the 2016 growing season started early.Throughout the summer months, we enjoyed cooler than average daytime highs and cool evenings, providing balancing acidity to our sun-ripened grapes. The near-perfect growing season continued through harvest and our grapes were safely in the cellar as the valley's first significant rainstorm arrived late October. We are grateful for a fifth consecutive vintage of stellar quality Napa Valley wines. Our selected grapes for this wine were picked between September 8th and October 8th.
Winemaker Notes:
The grapes were hand harvested in the cool of the morning, then gently de-stemmed and crushed.Nearly one third of the wine was fermented in French-oak tanks in our To Kalon Cellar for soft, supple tannins and textural interest. The balance went into stainless steel tanks for purity of fruit expression. Twenty-two days of maceration maximized color and flavor extraction and polished the tannins for a lush, round mouthfeel. The new wine was transferred to 60-gallon French oak barrels (3% new) for malolactic fermentation and 17 months aging to develop greater roundness and depth. Cabernet Sauvignon was included in the blend to enhance the wine’s structure, balance and complex flavor profile. The wine was bottled in April 2018.
Alcohol: 14.5%