Blend: 100% Malbec
Analysis:
Alcohol: 14.5% | PH: 3.71 | Titratable acidity: 6.28 g/L
Bottling Date: July 2015
Cellaring: 5+ years
Tasting Notes:
The nose is spicy, peppery and rustic with intense aromas of blackberry, dried fig, cigar box, leather, vanilla and meat, with subtle violet notes in the background. The palate is dry and full bodied with crisp acidity and firm, ripe tannins. There is lots of personality in the paprika, black plum, sundried tomato, blueberry and leather with a savoury dried sage finish. Lots of character now and should soften over the next 2-3 years. Try with a nicely seared piece of beef with a ratatouille and some hearty polenta.
Wine Making:
The 2013 early spring allowed for an even bud break, flowering and fruit set. Summer heat ripened the grapes nicely and the cool autumn provided conditions for the acidity to be retained giving the wines a lively freshness to balance the ripe fruit.
The grapes were harvested by hand from Burrowing Owl’s Vineyards in Oliver and Osoyoos on October 25th.
They were destemmed and gently crushed before being fed by gravity flow into stainless tanks for cold soak (4 days), alcoholic fermentation (7 days) and extended maceration (14 days). Both free run wine and pressed wine were then moved into barrels for malolactic fermentation followed by ageing (18 months). The selection of barrels helped round out the tannins and contributed complex savoury, toasted and spicy notes. After the blending of the barrels, the wine was bottled unfiltered and left to mature in bottle until its release.
Aging:
90% French oak, 10 % American with 53% new oak, 37% neutral
