WINEMAKER NOTES:
The 2017 is very much like a combination of the magic qualities of the 2013 and 2016 vintages combined. Two incredible vintages almost fused into one 2017 vintage. The weather perfect, the fruit all picked and sitting deep underground, protected by massive stone and air filtration, my dedicated crew showed up despite some being displaced as the fires started and raged, not near us, but all around and meanwhile we were in a world of quiet, fortress like protection with perfect air deep in the mountain where the Hundred Acre RING winery resides, totally protected.
VINEYARD NOTES:
The single estate vineyard ARK is located just outside St. Helena, California at the base of Howell Mountain. It was originally planted in the 1880s, but was sadly lost to Prohibition. It took us five years to rebuild; she is our pride and joy.
The ARK is comprised of nine different blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon, planted meter by meter in nine different volcanic soil strata. "e vineyard stretches through a sixty-million-year time sequence: three ancient beach fronts, a prehistoric weapons
quarry, and spans a 180-degree arc of the sun over its half-mile length.
Hot afternoon sun known to damage aromatics in the fruit (on the hottest days), is blocked by the shade of Glass Mountain (named for the rare obsidian rock found in the soil and for ancient weapons such as arrowheads) which rises to the western side of the ARK vineyard.
COOPERAGE:
Hundred Acre wines are aged for a minimum of 30 months in the finest, center cut French oak barrique. The stave wood is hand-selected for ultra-tight grain, then air dried for three years before being made into barrels.