A spicy essence weaves through enticing aromas of dark ripe cherry, black and red currant, and a trace of loamy earth. The smooth entry flows into a complexity of layers with subtle yet spicy cedar at the wineās core. Flavors of black cherry, currant, blackberry, plum, and mulberry entwine with threads of a rich minerality, savory fine herbs, and a hint of salinity that saturate the palate. The balanced integrated oak and supple tannins reveal a slight grip as the wine nears the long finish. This lovely Bordeaux-varietal blend offers the depth and finesse weāve come to expect from our Bradford Mountain Estate fruit.
Vintage & Vineyard Notes
Our first vintage of Agraria was in 1996 when our Bradford Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Franc and Merlot grapes were ready to harvest at the same time. Normally these two varieties ripen 7 to 10 days apart. When we harvested them on the same day, we found ourselves short of fermentation tanks, so we decided to co-ferment the Cabernet Franc and Merlot. When we tasted the wine from the barrel that winter, we were floored by the richness and suppleness of this mountain-grown Cabernet Franc/Merlot blend. We decided to bottle some of this blend on its own, rather than just using it as part of our Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends; hence the birth of Agraria.
With the 1997 vintage we realized it was the Cabernet Franc from Bradford Mountain Vineyard that made our Agraria blend unique. Since 1997, our Agraria is predominantly Cabernet Franc with Merlot, and sometimes a little Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. It is always 100% Bradford Mountain Vineyard fruit.
We are fond of calling this our āhave your cake and eat it tooā wine, meaning that itās an incredibly rich and big wine that is ready to enjoy when released. The combination of 27 months of barrel aging in new and 2-year-old French oak and four years of bottle aging allows this wine to integrate the barrel and grape tannins, forming complex, smooth flavors and seamless, silky texture.
Savor this wine with a pairing of seared lamb chops with pistachio tapenade and a side of quinoa pilaf, or red wine braised bison short ribs served over a bed of mashed root vegetables.
The nose reveals ripe dark fruit layered with aromatic cedar spice notes, creating a tempting introduction to this complex and full-bodied Merlot. A soft entry gently exposes the firm structure as the wine crosses the palate. Savor flavors of ripe boysenberry, black currant and lingering luscious dark cherry that expand into the long finish. Traces of forest floor weave through the rich, dark fruit essence. As the wine opens, a hint of creamy mocha oak appears, adding depth. A lovely balance between the tannin, oak and delicious fruit enhances the wineās appeal and ageability.
Vintage & Vineyard Notes
When we first planted Merlot in our Bradford Mountain Estate Vineyard in the 1980s, it was mostly used as a blending component for our Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Estate Cabernet Franc. In the mid and late 90s, my father bottled small amounts of Merlot to showcase the delicious depth of flavors capable of this varietal. These
wines have held up well for over 20 years.
After a 10-year hiatus of not bottling a varietal Merlot, the quality of the grapes in 2012 convinced us to give this noble variety another round in the spotlight. In years when the grapes from our mountain vineyard are of exceptional depth, we will continue to produce a Merlot to satisfy its fervent fans. Combining all the soft, plush quality that Merlot is known for with the structure from grapes grown at our mountain vineyard site makes for a wine I am truly proud of and never shy to share at any gathering.
An easy sipping wine isnāt the first thing that comes to mind when you open a Petit Verdot, but once you try this one, you might change your mind. Rich, enticing aromatics of vine-ripened brambly blackberry mingle with cedar spices and oak notes. A fresh, vibrant entry offers focused flavors of mulberry, boysenberry, and black cherry woven with hints of sage, violet, and black licorice. A solid structure seamlessly supports this intense, delicious wine even as it lingers on the palate. If opened before 2025, give the wine some breathing space to allow its beauty to shine through.
Vintage & Vineyard Notes
In 1983, when we began planting the Bradford Mountain Vineyard, I sourced Merlot and Cabernet Franc budwood from Newton Vineyard in the Napa Valley. John Kongsgaard, the winemaker/manager of Newton Vineyard, is a friend and former classmate of mine from UC Davis. When I arrived at the vineyard to make the cuttings, John mentioned that I might be interested in taking some Petit Verdot cuttings. He felt that it was an important component of their Bordeaux blends and might do well on Bradford Mountain. I cut enough Petit Verdot budwood to graft half of an acre of the rootstock we had planted in the spring. I subsequently learned that this Petit Verdot selection could be traced back to the Jackson Field Station in the Sierra Nevada foothills. This demonstration vineyard was planted in the 1880s by Henry Hilgaard, the founder and first professor of the Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California. While always an important part of our Cabernet Sauvignon and Agraria blends, we never thought it would be bottled as a varietal wine. In 2010, Jamie put together a blend that showcased the sauvage qualities of both the variety and the Bradford Mountain terroir. The 2019 vintage was another vintage with the perfect growing season to fully ripen Petit Verdot, providing all of the classic characteristics
Subtle aromatics of ripe mulberry and boysenberry merge with hints of the wineās structure and a dusty tannin essence. A smooth entry and round mouthfeel deliver a delicious blend of blackberry, bright cherry, black raspberry, pomegranate, and red plum. Mocha and vanilla with traces of minerality and fine herbs appear mid-palate, along with integrated tannins and oak. Opulent and seductive, this wine goes down so easily, you might be surprised when your glass is empty and youāre longing for more
Vintage & Vineyard Notes
We planted our Malbec block in 2008, with very little prior experience growing or making it. The couple hundred vines that grow alongside the Cabernet Franc and Merlot on our Bradford Mountain Estate Vineyard were planted to produce just enough wine to be a blending component in our Bordeaux varietal blends.
Some years like 2019, the vines produce an abundance of juicy, ripe, deep purple berries, and weāre blessed with the opportunity to produce a varietal bottling of Malbec.
Try pairing with sausage and blue cheese stuffed portabella mushrooms, or grilled lamb chops with pomegranate molasses and white beans.
Specs
Vintage: 2019
Composition: 100% Malbec
Vineyard: Bradford Mountain Estate Vineyard
Appellation: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Harvest Date: October 15, 2019
Alcohol: 14.6%
pH: 3.56
TA: 0.57g/100ml
Barrel Aging: 25 months
Cooperage: 50% new French oak barrels, 50% 3-year-old French oak barrels
Peterson Winery has been producing wine in Dry Creek Valley for 30 years and, like most wineries in the Valley, produces Zinfandel as well as other wines. Yet a closer look shows that is where the similarities end.
Owner Fred Peterson is an iconoclast with an old-world winemaking philosophy and a reverence for sustainable farming. The Peterson approach is to capture the essence of vintage and vineyardāa philosophy they call Zero Manipulationāwith low tech, yet high touch, to produce wines of a place, wines with soul. The evolution of Peterson wines and winemaking accelerated when Fredās son Jamie became assistant winemaker in the summer of 2002. In 2006, after moving from the tiny red barn on Lytton Springs to Timber Crest Farms, Jamie was given the overall responsibilities as winemaker. As a winegrowing team, Fred and Jamie assess the grapes from each vineyard and vintage as the season progresses, evaluating how the weather, soil, and site are interacting for the particular vintage. At Peterson Winery, the winemaking process begins while the grapes are still on the vines. Zero Manipulation is a discipline the Petersons follow to capture the character and balance of inherent in the grapes. Zero Manipulation means using the most gentle, traditional winemaking practices possible to maximize the flavors, aromatics, and texture of the wines. Fred and Jamie celebrate vintage differences and donāt tweak or homogenize the wine to obtain consistency of flavors, a common practice in mass-market wineries. For Fred and Jamie, Peterson Winery is all about the wines. But if you look a little deeper, youāll see the heart and soul that goes into every bottle.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, RI, SC, TX, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Peterson Bordeaux Varietal Reds - $40 = 16.66%
Your Patience will be highly rewarded.
We were thrilled to open our Rat box and find a Peterson 2019 Petit Verdot. We have been fans of Peterson wines for many years, but had never tried their PV. Pop-N-Pour: there was a lot of sediment in the neck of the bottle, so I poured first taste through a Venturi with screen. The wine is a deep burgundy color, under-ripe cherry on the nose. First taste was aggressively tart with a bold under-ripe cherry taste. We thought it was actually unpleasant. We let the bottle sit open for about an hour while we finished preparing a dinner of grilled Delmonico steak, baked potato, and charred green beans with a hot pepper jelly glaze. By the time we ate, this PV became more palatable, but was still overly tart and tight. It did not pair well with the steak. We decided to give it another 24 hours in the bottle (under VacuVin) and decanted a Wellington Karen Valley 2013 Cab Sauv to finish our dinner (Yes, it was delicious with the steak - of course it would have been delicious with anything!). 2nd night: the tartness is calming down, but still prominent upon reopening. Rich cherry with plum and blackberry notes, slight anise with hints of mint. The well developed structure of this wine is becoming more apparent, but it is still tight. Paired with lamb ragu and salad. Over the course of the meal, the PV continued to open up. After 2 hours, it had transitioned into a delicious treat. The tartness was subtle with a nice level of acidity that played well with rich food. The cherry calmed down with notes of strawberry coming through. It was becoming abundantly clear to us that this is a highly complex wine that needs a lot of time to show itself. Displaying an atypical degree of self-restraint, we decided to cork, but not vacuum, the rest of the bottle to try after another 24 hours. 3rd night: Wow! This opened into an absolutely luscious wine. Paired with rotisserie chicken and broccoli risotto. Alas, by now spouse and I each had less than a full pour to savor. It paired pretty well with this dinner, but really was calling out for the steak or ragu from the 2 prior evenings. The flavor had transitioned into dark cherry/dark fruit, subtle oak, licorice and mint notes, with a nice level of acidity. The tartness that had been so overpowering earlier had become subtle and pleasant. This is clearly a highly structured/complex wine that needs to breathe for a long time before its beauty is revealed. It could probably benefit from a few more years cellaring as well. We will be in for the mixed case as we have really enjoyed every Peterson wine we have had. We will probably cellar the PV for a while. It is delicious now, if you give it enough time to breathe before drinking. I would recommend decanting and letting it breathe about 4 hours before you plan to serve it. Your patience will be very well rewarded. Thank you Alice for another chance to play Rat.
@pseudogourmet98
Your comment on the first taste made me think this may be a good one. For Rat bottles, and others Iām trying to get a handle on, while itās unlikely Iād leave it uncorked on the counter at RT, I do absolutely nothing to attempt to preserve it. Best it will see is a re-cork in the fridge, as I really want to see where itās going.
Now, if a bottle is in a sweet spot, thatās when I bring out the Ar to keep it there.
Oh wow I kind of forgot how good of a deal the WCC folks talked us into putting out there for this offer. Just a portion of the remaining wines are made available, since we really havenāt offered the Bordeaux varietals from the estate to you all much, and a couple of the wines are getting low on inventory. Hopefully it sells out!
Checking in from the winery and will be around to answer any questions; doing some bottling all day today, and kids first day back to school here in Sonoma County, but happy for warm days and cool nights to wind down summer/get us into harvest in September.
The three 2019ās (Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Merlot) are all definitely a little bit tight still, and open up beautifully with some air or time. The Agraria from 2017 is ready to go. We call it the āhave your cake and eat(drink) it too,ā since it still has lots of life left as well. Fingers crossed we can get the lucky Rats input as wellā¦
Cheers!
Never gone wrong with any Peterson Wine - Anyway a ***āSuper Deal Tooā *** as usual in for a Case!! Thanks Fred & WineDavid poetic-intelligent-curtain
Late rat here. This week has been overly dramatic, and it need to stop. You know whatās not overly dramatic? The Peterson 2019 Malbec. It has no need to stop at all.
I poured a glass to go with grilled chicken seasoned heavily with Montreal seasoning and grilled veggies. This Malbec is a dark, deep, and rich velvety purple.
It was such a dark color that I was expecting a full-on fruit bomb. Instead, it was less fruitbomb and more fruit La-Z-Boy. Itās really comfy.
If there were any tannins, they disappeared in the 5 minutes my glass sat while I got dinner on the table. There was no alcohol burn whatsoever. This Malbec was the most drinkable straight after opening that Iāve ever experienced in a red.
This Malbec is lovely and lush and soft and round with lots of red plum and dark fruit. I drank this with some Montreal Seasoned grilled chicken & grilled veggies. The plum notes really sang with the peppery seasoning, and I found an interesting earthinessbwith the veggies I also managed to find a tinge if tangerine somewhere in the background when drinking without food. That said, my nose was a tad bit stuffy, so maybe it was playing tricks (hope not - that was fun!) It had a rather short finish, so it perfectly complimented the chicken without ever coming close to overpowering it
Iāve been blessed to rat many times over the past few years, and this was easily my favorite rattage. This Malbec is a big hug after a bad day.
@InFrom@klezman@losthighwayz yes, not our ideal alcohol level, but honest, and hopefully carried and balanced well enough for most palates!
2017 was an abnormal year, with an intense heat spell coming around Labor Day. Some of the more sensitive varieties or ones farther from harvest suffered a lot of sunburn and further reduced the crop.
In any case, we put the actual alcohol level that we test on the label, rather than using the leeway that is allowed to fudge it slightlyā¦ probably should take advantage of that more and not be such a hard-liner, since we end up having to pay more tax for some of the higher abv wines, as well as have people concerned about the numbers.
Perhaps the vintner can explain āzero manipulationā? Sounds great from a marketing perspective but what does that term really mean? Was refrigeration used at any time? Isnāt new oak āmanipulationā? Not trying to be a āhard arseā here but just donāt dig āmarketing termsā.
@tercerowines Thanks for the questions! Winery friends of ours up here in Dry Creek have been giving us grief about Zero Manipulation for decades; āis this wine 4% or 15% manipulation?ā
Yes, it is a āmarketing term,ā and a registered/trademarked one, but probably should always be taken with a grain of salt, and a little tip-of-the-tongue-in-cheek, like most marketing terms or fanciful names. Since any wine is made through some kinds of manipulations and choices, no matter how natural/groovy/pure we all want to believe it isā¦ Pragmatic naturalism, or some combo of those words describes it, maybe.
My dad and mainly our label and graphic designer, Chris Blum, came up with the term in the late 90ās to describe both our guiding philosophy and the methods my dad was utilizing at the time, when the āParkerizationā of wine was at its perceived height.
As a guiding principle, it boils down to we donāt go into each vintage with a preconceived mold that each wine will need to exactly fit, and appreciate that each vintage will be different. Sourcing from the same vineyards each year, we have some ideas on what the wines will show. We strive for enough natural acidity to be able to make a stable wine, and enough flavor/color/sugar to make a tasty one, and weight the balance. Picking decisions are a combination of numbers and being in the vineyard and tasting for that vibrant, lively place of ripeness.
As to the winemaking methods used, we destem most lots, leaving whole berry as much as possible. We do percentages of whole cluster on some lots, and have played around with full bins of pure whole cluster/carbonic/foot stomping funā¦ But itās not the preference on most ferments for us.
Generally a 30ppm SO2 add at the destemmer, adjusting up or down depending on the condition of the grapes and the vineyard. The goal is to knock some of the weaker but also potentially nastier microorganisms down, and have at least a few days cold/cool soak before fermentation starts. About half the wines take off fermenting on their own, with native yeasts or cellar yeasts. If weāre short on space or Iām not feeling like the natives will do the job, we will add some cultured. We have chill plates for our open top fermentors if the grapes come in warmer than desired, and for use during fermentation to keep things under the low 90ās at the peak. I like the dynamics of the flavors and extraction when the must gets a certain amount of warmth, but donāt want the yeasts to burn out. Punch down 2x-4x per day depending on where things are in fermentation.
Usually 11-16 days on skins before we press off in our basket press. Sometimes at dryness, sometimes just before. Goes to tanks to let the heaviest gross lees settle out before we go to barrel. We do use a percentage of new oak on some lots, for the spice rack effect, since it does make for a more pleasing and full wine, and I like working with the coopers and families that we have established relationships with over the years. About 15% new oak total each vintageā¦ Keeping barrels for as long as we can after theyāre neutral. Still a few 2002ās in the cellar here. My dad likes to say if you can taste and identify the new oak component, youāve ruined the wineā¦ and whatās the point of putting a single vineyard on the label if you have to dress it up so much with oak. Any aging vessel contributes something to the development of the wine.
ML happens in barrel, and we use sulfites again after it finishes; āminimum effectiveā to keep the bad bugs and oxygen at bay for the 18-24 month barrel aging, and a little bump at bottling, and with generally decent pH levels we can get away with not too much most of the time.
To try and wrap it up a little more concisely, other key points to the methods are no enzyme, tannin, acid, mega purple, polysaccharides, velcorin, etc. additions, or fining or filtering, or alcohol or VA or other removals. Iāve experienced most of these things since weāve done a bit of custom crush over the years and had clients that wanted to make things a certain wayā¦ Not saying any of them are evil, but we want to attempt to add as little as possible, and remove as little as possible, in the most gentle, honest way we know. And make a wine that tastes good for people to enjoy with food, or on its own.
Back to the bottling line. Hope that helps, sorry everyone for rambling, and thanks again!
@mattig88 Well played, Casemates! Went in for the 4-pack, somehow thatās sold out but cases are still available! Now, Iām no math genius but, I think that equals (3) 4-packs!
2017 Peterson Agraria Cabernet Franc, Bradford Mountain
Tasting Notes
Vintage & Vineyard Notes
Specs
2019 Peterson Merlot, Bradford Mountain
Tasting Notes
Vintage & Vineyard Notes
Specs
2019 Peterson Petit Verdot, Bradford Mountain
Tasting Notes
Vintage & Vineyard Notes
Specs
2019 Peterson Malbec, Bradford Mountain
Tasting Notes
Vintage & Vineyard Notes
Specs
Whatās Included
4-bottles:
Price Comparison
$540/Case for 3x each of 2017 Peterson Agraria Cabernet Franc, Bradford Mountain, 2019 Peterson Merlot, Bradford Mountain, 2019 Peterson Petit Verdot, Bradford Mountain, and 2019 Peterson Malbec, Bradford Mountain at Peterson Winery
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, RI, SC, TX, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Tuesday, Sep 3
Peterson Bordeaux Varietal Reds
4 bottles for $79.99 $20/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $199.99 $16.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2017 Agraria
2019 Merlot
2019 Petit Verdot
2019 Malbec
Say no more. Iām in for a case.
@smoothie72 Exactly. Excited about this.
No shipping to VA?!
@akmartin00 Indeed I was sorely disappointed to see this as well.
@akmartin00 no love for CT either
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Peterson Bordeaux Varietal Reds - $40 = 16.66%
No Rats?
However, Iām predicting a sell-out whether or not we have rats.
Iām gettinā in early!
@FritzCat Told ya so!
No MD?
Your Patience will be highly rewarded.
We were thrilled to open our Rat box and find a Peterson 2019 Petit Verdot. We have been fans of Peterson wines for many years, but had never tried their PV. Pop-N-Pour: there was a lot of sediment in the neck of the bottle, so I poured first taste through a Venturi with screen. The wine is a deep burgundy color, under-ripe cherry on the nose. First taste was aggressively tart with a bold under-ripe cherry taste. We thought it was actually unpleasant. We let the bottle sit open for about an hour while we finished preparing a dinner of grilled Delmonico steak, baked potato, and charred green beans with a hot pepper jelly glaze. By the time we ate, this PV became more palatable, but was still overly tart and tight. It did not pair well with the steak. We decided to give it another 24 hours in the bottle (under VacuVin) and decanted a Wellington Karen Valley 2013 Cab Sauv to finish our dinner (Yes, it was delicious with the steak - of course it would have been delicious with anything!). 2nd night: the tartness is calming down, but still prominent upon reopening. Rich cherry with plum and blackberry notes, slight anise with hints of mint. The well developed structure of this wine is becoming more apparent, but it is still tight. Paired with lamb ragu and salad. Over the course of the meal, the PV continued to open up. After 2 hours, it had transitioned into a delicious treat. The tartness was subtle with a nice level of acidity that played well with rich food. The cherry calmed down with notes of strawberry coming through. It was becoming abundantly clear to us that this is a highly complex wine that needs a lot of time to show itself. Displaying an atypical degree of self-restraint, we decided to cork, but not vacuum, the rest of the bottle to try after another 24 hours. 3rd night: Wow! This opened into an absolutely luscious wine. Paired with rotisserie chicken and broccoli risotto. Alas, by now spouse and I each had less than a full pour to savor. It paired pretty well with this dinner, but really was calling out for the steak or ragu from the 2 prior evenings. The flavor had transitioned into dark cherry/dark fruit, subtle oak, licorice and mint notes, with a nice level of acidity. The tartness that had been so overpowering earlier had become subtle and pleasant. This is clearly a highly structured/complex wine that needs to breathe for a long time before its beauty is revealed. It could probably benefit from a few more years cellaring as well. We will be in for the mixed case as we have really enjoyed every Peterson wine we have had. We will probably cellar the PV for a while. It is delicious now, if you give it enough time to breathe before drinking. I would recommend decanting and letting it breathe about 4 hours before you plan to serve it. Your patience will be very well rewarded. Thank you Alice for another chance to play Rat.
@pseudogourmet98
Your comment on the first taste made me think this may be a good one. For Rat bottles, and others Iām trying to get a handle on, while itās unlikely Iād leave it uncorked on the counter at RT, I do absolutely nothing to attempt to preserve it. Best it will see is a re-cork in the fridge, as I really want to see where itās going.
Now, if a bottle is in a sweet spot, thatās when I bring out the Ar to keep it there.
/giphy wrenching-regular-mallard
Oh wow I kind of forgot how good of a deal the WCC folks talked us into putting out there for this offer. Just a portion of the remaining wines are made available, since we really havenāt offered the Bordeaux varietals from the estate to you all much, and a couple of the wines are getting low on inventory. Hopefully it sells out!
Checking in from the winery and will be around to answer any questions; doing some bottling all day today, and kids first day back to school here in Sonoma County, but happy for warm days and cool nights to wind down summer/get us into harvest in September.
The three 2019ās (Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Merlot) are all definitely a little bit tight still, and open up beautifully with some air or time. The Agraria from 2017 is ready to go. We call it the āhave your cake and eat(drink) it too,ā since it still has lots of life left as well. Fingers crossed we can get the lucky Rats input as wellā¦
Cheers!
Just the 4-pack - thatās showing restraint, right?
/giphy plucky-goodhearted-guppy
Bottles available in SoCal
Oh goodnessā¦I really tried to not buy this. Fail. Canāt pass up a Peterson offer this goodā¦in for a caseā¦
divided-noted-company
Late rat here. This week has been overly dramatic, and it need to stop. You know whatās not overly dramatic? The Peterson 2019 Malbec. It has no need to stop at all.
I poured a glass to go with grilled chicken seasoned heavily with Montreal seasoning and grilled veggies. This Malbec is a dark, deep, and rich velvety purple.
It was such a dark color that I was expecting a full-on fruit bomb. Instead, it was less fruitbomb and more fruit La-Z-Boy. Itās really comfy.
If there were any tannins, they disappeared in the 5 minutes my glass sat while I got dinner on the table. There was no alcohol burn whatsoever. This Malbec was the most drinkable straight after opening that Iāve ever experienced in a red.
This Malbec is lovely and lush and soft and round with lots of red plum and dark fruit. I drank this with some Montreal Seasoned grilled chicken & grilled veggies. The plum notes really sang with the peppery seasoning, and I found an interesting earthinessbwith the veggies I also managed to find a tinge if tangerine somewhere in the background when drinking without food. That said, my nose was a tad bit stuffy, so maybe it was playing tricks (hope not - that was fun!) It had a rather short finish, so it perfectly complimented the chicken without ever coming close to overpowering it
Iāve been blessed to rat many times over the past few years, and this was easily my favorite rattage. This Malbec is a big hug after a bad day.
I donāt need more wine. I donāt need more wineā¦ Peterson mixed pack? Canāt pass on that!
/giphy nonchalant-moody-weaver
15.7 is quite high!
@losthighwayz that was my reaction also. Especially for something like Cab Franc. I was hoping it was a typo!
@klezman @losthighwayz Maybe the AbV knocked out the Rat before they could post a review?
@InFrom @klezman @losthighwayz yes, not our ideal alcohol level, but honest, and hopefully carried and balanced well enough for most palates!
2017 was an abnormal year, with an intense heat spell coming around Labor Day. Some of the more sensitive varieties or ones farther from harvest suffered a lot of sunburn and further reduced the crop.
In any case, we put the actual alcohol level that we test on the label, rather than using the leeway that is allowed to fudge it slightlyā¦ probably should take advantage of that more and not be such a hard-liner, since we end up having to pay more tax for some of the higher abv wines, as well as have people concerned about the numbers.
Perhaps the vintner can explain āzero manipulationā? Sounds great from a marketing perspective but what does that term really mean? Was refrigeration used at any time? Isnāt new oak āmanipulationā? Not trying to be a āhard arseā here but just donāt dig āmarketing termsā.
Carry on . . .
@tercerowines Iām pretty sure it means that the grapes were not gas-lit.
@tercerowines Thanks for the questions! Winery friends of ours up here in Dry Creek have been giving us grief about Zero Manipulation for decades; āis this wine 4% or 15% manipulation?ā
Yes, it is a āmarketing term,ā and a registered/trademarked one, but probably should always be taken with a grain of salt, and a little tip-of-the-tongue-in-cheek, like most marketing terms or fanciful names. Since any wine is made through some kinds of manipulations and choices, no matter how natural/groovy/pure we all want to believe it isā¦ Pragmatic naturalism, or some combo of those words describes it, maybe.
My dad and mainly our label and graphic designer, Chris Blum, came up with the term in the late 90ās to describe both our guiding philosophy and the methods my dad was utilizing at the time, when the āParkerizationā of wine was at its perceived height.
As a guiding principle, it boils down to we donāt go into each vintage with a preconceived mold that each wine will need to exactly fit, and appreciate that each vintage will be different. Sourcing from the same vineyards each year, we have some ideas on what the wines will show. We strive for enough natural acidity to be able to make a stable wine, and enough flavor/color/sugar to make a tasty one, and weight the balance. Picking decisions are a combination of numbers and being in the vineyard and tasting for that vibrant, lively place of ripeness.
As to the winemaking methods used, we destem most lots, leaving whole berry as much as possible. We do percentages of whole cluster on some lots, and have played around with full bins of pure whole cluster/carbonic/foot stomping funā¦ But itās not the preference on most ferments for us.
Generally a 30ppm SO2 add at the destemmer, adjusting up or down depending on the condition of the grapes and the vineyard. The goal is to knock some of the weaker but also potentially nastier microorganisms down, and have at least a few days cold/cool soak before fermentation starts. About half the wines take off fermenting on their own, with native yeasts or cellar yeasts. If weāre short on space or Iām not feeling like the natives will do the job, we will add some cultured. We have chill plates for our open top fermentors if the grapes come in warmer than desired, and for use during fermentation to keep things under the low 90ās at the peak. I like the dynamics of the flavors and extraction when the must gets a certain amount of warmth, but donāt want the yeasts to burn out. Punch down 2x-4x per day depending on where things are in fermentation.
Usually 11-16 days on skins before we press off in our basket press. Sometimes at dryness, sometimes just before. Goes to tanks to let the heaviest gross lees settle out before we go to barrel. We do use a percentage of new oak on some lots, for the spice rack effect, since it does make for a more pleasing and full wine, and I like working with the coopers and families that we have established relationships with over the years. About 15% new oak total each vintageā¦ Keeping barrels for as long as we can after theyāre neutral. Still a few 2002ās in the cellar here. My dad likes to say if you can taste and identify the new oak component, youāve ruined the wineā¦ and whatās the point of putting a single vineyard on the label if you have to dress it up so much with oak. Any aging vessel contributes something to the development of the wine.
ML happens in barrel, and we use sulfites again after it finishes; āminimum effectiveā to keep the bad bugs and oxygen at bay for the 18-24 month barrel aging, and a little bump at bottling, and with generally decent pH levels we can get away with not too much most of the time.
To try and wrap it up a little more concisely, other key points to the methods are no enzyme, tannin, acid, mega purple, polysaccharides, velcorin, etc. additions, or fining or filtering, or alcohol or VA or other removals. Iāve experienced most of these things since weāve done a bit of custom crush over the years and had clients that wanted to make things a certain wayā¦ Not saying any of them are evil, but we want to attempt to add as little as possible, and remove as little as possible, in the most gentle, honest way we know. And make a wine that tastes good for people to enjoy with food, or on its own.
Back to the bottling line. Hope that helps, sorry everyone for rambling, and thanks again!
@mattig88 Well put! No gaslighting grapesā¦ nor the customers.
@PetersonWinery @tercerowines
What a refreshing reply!
4 packs are gone. Anyone in the North Atlanta area want a split? I could go for 4 or 8.
I donāt have any more room for wine.
/giphy prudent-cool-butterfly
@mattig88 Well played, Casemates! Went in for the 4-pack, somehow thatās sold out but cases are still available! Now, Iām no math genius but, I think that equals (3) 4-packs!
Alice reports additional stock has been located! Disregard the below sell out notice, but make it so againā¦
Have a very boring and economical rest of the day
@rjquillin not so fast, apparently a few more cases have been uncovered.
@rjquillin @WCCWineGirl any more cases?
@danidani12 @rjquillin ahh, no. just a couple of 4 packs left
@rjquillin @WCCWineGirl any chance you want to take pity on me and turn three 4-packs into a case?
Woo-Hoo!
/giphy laughable-crowded-middle
/giphy herbivorous-filthy-car
/giphy buy-more-now
snapped up a 4 packā¦ 24 hours laterā¦ cases gone, buy another 4 pack!
Itās a double sell-out now
