2009 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

2009 Vintage Notes

The year opened with a cool Spring rains after a series of drought years, which gave much needed relief and full canopies as the weather warmed in late March and April. Overall, the growing season was mild with swings to both warm and cool from July through September. October brought several light early rains, but the weather turned warm and sunny late in the month, which brought the development and ripeness we were looking for. As in years past, we scheduled our harvest just ahead of a significant cooling trend that both threatened rain and a march backward in development. We picked our two producing blocks on October 24th, combining the two clones for fermentation as a single lot. Our fruit was ripe and ready, tannins well developed, seeds brown, flavors rich and complex.

2009 Howell Mountain Cabernet Tasting Notes

The nearly black pure Cabernet Sauvignon bursts with aromas of black cherry cordial, graphite, and pomegranate, opens to cascades of sweet and toasty blackberry pie, minerals, and smoke.The palate is rich and lively, layered with the flavors of sweet tobacco, violets, dried cherry, and burnt sugar, supported by a firm structure and a long lingering finish of toasted walnut and black cherry fruit. Smooth and rich, it has the backbone to support many years of enjoyment.

• Harvest date: 10/24/2009
• Brix 26.8
• pH 3.80
• 38 days on the skins (from crush to press), including:'
• A 4 day cold soak with daily pumpovers, at which point it began a native fermentation
• A 10 day fermentation with twice daily aerative pumpovers
• An Extended Maceration of an additional 24 days on the skins
• Aged for 20 months in 100% French Oak, 85% new
• Bottled August 3rd, 2011
• Unfiltered and Unfined