Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
Great deep purple colour. Crushed ripe black cherries and pomegranate on the nose. Dried herbs and spicy oak tones give layers of complexity. Ripe blackberries, black licorice, smoke and a dark chocolate finish with dusty tannins giving beautiful length and old world charm.
Ratings
*93 points - John Schreiner.
*92 points - Rick VanSickle.
*90 points - David Lawrason.
*89 points - Michael Godel.
Vineyard Notes
After back to back cooler-than-average vintages 2012 was a welcome return to typical warm Okanagan summer and cool autumn. The vineyards were in excellent leading up to harvest and there was little to no sorting of fruit in the vineyard or winery. Some minor green harvesting was completed at the start of veraison to ensure even ripening at picking time.
Production Notes
The grapes were de-stemmed before cold settling on skins for 3 days. The wine was then inoculated and slowly allowed to warm naturally, temperature was maintained with pump-overs to optimize colour extraction without forcing out too much tannin. The wines were then pressed to new and second fill French Oak barrels prior to completing primary fermentation to mitigate tannin extraction in alcohol phase, then kept on lees and topped regularly over 18 months before being bottled. The wine was then aged in bottle for a year to allow proper bottle conditioning to occur and bring out the true complexities of this great variety.
Production
Cases made: 770
