2007

Alexander Valley Zinfandel

(Retail Price $40.00)

Appellation: Alexander Valley

Varietal Blend: 100% Old Vine Zinfandel (82 & 75 year old vines)

Soil: Alluvial, well-drained, gravelly loam

Harvest: Manually harvested at optimum ripeness during the warmth of the afternoon.  Hand sorted in the vineyard, excluding raisins and under ripe fruit. Harvest consisted of 2 tons per acre on October 1, 2006

Technique: The fruit was destemmed and crushed into a stainless steel fermentation tank.  Inoculated with Pasteur Red yeast, the  fermentation was completed in about 8 days. This wine was gently pumped over twice a day during fermentation to insure through extraction of color and tannin.  The wine was then held on the skins for another 12 days to complete malolactic fermentation and soften some of the harsher tannins.  The wine was gently pressed using a membrane tank press, then racked off the gross lees into barrels.  These barrels were then racked quarterly to allow for natural clarification.