2004 Estate Merlot

The weather during the 2004 vintage was typical of Napa. However, a week long heat wave in September desiccated 15-20% of our grapes. In our ongoing quest for top quality wines, we manually removed, in the vineyard, most of the dried berries. We repeated the operation on the sorting table. It was long, arduous work but such is the price of great wines. This resulted in strong, powerful wines. The wine was created by blending the fruit of our two merlot blocks to achieve balance. The wine was aged 19 months in French oak barrels on its lees and never racked. The lees coat the grape and oak tannins making the wine appear softer in its youth.