Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Analysis:
Alcohol: 14.5 % | PH: 3.81 | Titratable acidity: 5.94 g/L
Bottling Date: August 2022
Cellaring: 5+ years
Tasting Notes:
A powerful, intense, structured yet refreshing Cabernet Sauvignon built for ageing. The nose shows blackcurrant, wild sage, damson plum, cedar, black licorice and vanilla notes with dried black olives and a graphite minerality. The palate is full-bodied, firmly structured with ripe firm tannins, crisp acidity and powerful black plum, blackberry, Okanagan berry pie and paprika notes with a long finish built to last. Pair with a classic grilled rib-eye steak with a peppercorn demi-glace or eggplant parmigiana.
– Rhys Pender, Master of Wine
Wine Making:
The 2020 growing season was a rather average one characterized by certain weather events. Spring’s arrival was delayed, followed by bouts of rain in late May and early June which led to slightly lower yields and resultingly high-quality grapes. August added ideal summer heat, ripening the grapes slowly which extended into September. Sunny, clear skies in the fall helped make up for the late start to the season and benefited flavour development in the grapes while cool nights helped retain acidity.
The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for our 2020 vintage were harvested by hand from Burrowing Owl Estate Winery vineyards in Oliver and Osoyoos at the beginning of November, mostly on the 5th and the rest on the 9th. They were destemmed and gently crushed before being gravity fed into stainless steel tanks for a cold soaking and alcoholic fermentation with temperatures ranging from 16 to 30 °C. Both free-run and pressed wine were then moved into a selection of mostly French barrels for malolactic fermentation followed by 18 months of oak ageing. The Hungarian and American oak barrels helped compliment the French while the oak program as a whole achieved a rounding out of the tannins and contribution of complex notes, such as savory and spice. After the blending of the barrels, the wine was bottled unfiltered.