Vineyards:
Cinq Cépages is the flagship wine of Chateau St. Jean. Each year, Winemaker Margo Van Staaveren selects fruit from the finest Bordeaux varietal vineyards to craft a wine that showcases the best of Sonoma County. The primary grape sources for the 2015 vintage are from some of the finest appellations throughout Sonoma County including our Sonoma Valley home district (33%) where we feature our St. Jean estate vineyard and Moon Mountain District (12%) also in Sonoma Valley, which gives structure to the blend with black, dense mountain fruit. Knights Valley (33%) fruit highlights boysenberry flavors and elegant tannins while Dry Creek Valley (8%) fruit adds lush juiciness and rich texture. Finally, Alexander Valley (14%) grapes show bright berry flavors with savory herbs.
Vintage:
After three years of plentiful harvests, the 2015 vintage brought low, but outstanding yields. A mild spring and summer with almost no rain allowed the fruit to ripen at a very steady and deliberate pace, and picking began a few days earlier than 2014. The drier-than-normal conditions and abundant sunshine contributed to the smaller berry size and low yields, resulting in wines with excellent concentration, color and flavor.
Winemaking:
The 2015 Cinq Cépages (“Five Varieties”) is a blend of the classic Bordeaux grapes consisting of Cabernet Sauvignon (81%), Merlot (9%), Cabernet Franc (4%), Malbec (4%), and Petit Verdot (2%). All five varietal components are used each vintage to create the stylized blend that is Cinq Cépages. Before blending, each component is aged separately for 20 months in 100% French oak, 63% new. Once the components are assembled, the blend spends almost an entire additional year in the bottle before release.
Tasting Notes:
In signature Cinq Cepages form, this classically styled Bordeaux blend shows off aromas and flavors of dark fruits, including blackberries and mountain raspberries accented with cassis, black olive, tobacco leaf and black tea. Hints of oak spice and vanilla frame a nicely balanced, well-structured wine that is rich and inviting, round in mouthfeel with a notably lingering finish. Deeply concentrated and typical of the vintage, this is a wine with a solid potential for aging and gaining further complexity for those with the patience to wait for full enjoyment.
- Alc: 14.6%
- TA: 0.63 g/100mL
- pH: 3.71