2015 Merlot, Les Collines Vineyard
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Wine Specs
Vintage
2015
Varietal
Merlot
Appellation
Walla Walla Valley
Vineyard Designation
Les Collines Vineyard
Acid
6.03 g/L
pH
3.73
Aging
Barrel aged for 20 months in 65% new French Oak
Bottling Date
08/09/2017
Residual Sugar
0.01
Alcohol %
13.7
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
Fig and honeycomb with wild blueberry and cherry notes. Leather, clove and anise flavor pounce up front to a rich, full finish with a spicy note on the end.
Vineyard Notes
Sourced from award-winning Les Collines Vineyard in Washington State’s Walla Walla AVA. Located in Walla Walla Valley, Les Collines is one of the most advanced vineyards in Washington state. The vineyard uses a computer controlled wireless irrigation system, chemical alternatives (such as compost tea), and minimal input farming techniques. Les Collines is also certified as a Salmon-Safe vineyard by the International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC).
Winemaker Notes
Throughout harvest, Winemaker Richard Batchelor worked closely with local growers and visited each vineyard to taste for maturity and ripeness to determine the precise moment to pick the fruit. Grapes were hand-harvested during the cool hours of the morning to preserve bright fruit notes. This single vineyard lot underwent a five day pre-fermentation cold soak before the tank was allowed to go through a native fermentation to dryness in about 21 days. Only the free run juice was collected to craft this wine, no press fraction was used in the making of this wine. This wine was then aged in French oak barrels for 19 months. For the first year this wine was stirred in barrel on its lees to enhance mouthfeel and racked when necessary to soften the tannins. After the first 12 months the wine was racked off the lees for clarity before bottling.
Production
Cased Produced: 142