Winemaker Notes
The Reserve barrels were carefully chosen for how they communicate their vineyards of origin, for their aging potential and, of upmost importance, their expression of the vintage. Our Reserve bottlings are primarily about capturing the singularity of the vintage, which is the greatest variable in our region. The blend is made up of  22% Justice Vineyard, 33% Abbey Ridge Vineyard, 22% 115 Oracle Vineyard, 14% 38-year-old Pommard from Oracle Vineyard, and 9% 777 Oracle Vineyard. On the palate the wine is mouth-filling and weighty, with a captivating, rich fruit and enough acidity/structure in the long finish to make a balanced and complete wine.  At harvest the individual lots received varying cold-soak prior to fermentation in the range of three to five days.  Each lot fermented separately with their individual indigenous yeast. The fermentation lasted an average of 16 days for each lot, and pressing occurred at dryness.  At pressing, the wine was racked directly to barrel to maintain a maximum amount of light lees. There the wine completed an indigenous malolactic.  In May the young wine was given a gentle inert gas racking from barrel to barrel.  The finished wine was bottled in late April 2016, without fining or filtration, to allow the wine’s full character show.  The 2014 blend was aged in 100% French oak, with 20% new barrels, 10% one-year-old, with the balance coming from neutral wood.