Very pretty, magenta color. A lot of black fruits, cloves, cinnamon bark, cedar, black pepper and honeyed figs with a touch of vanilla and cocoa. The palate is rich and full, with a surprisingly long mid-palate. The flavors are a mix of spicy and sweet with hints chicory, chocolate, blackberry and cinnamon. This wine lingers on both the aroma and palate and it’s one that will have you wishing you had another glass to pour after the bottle is empty.
CELLARING: This wine is lovely now but Red Mountain Cabernet should age well, probably peaking in 10 years, but still very drinkable at 15-20 years old.
Fruit was sourced Hedges (33%), Bel’ Villa (30%), Jolet (15%) and Magdalena (21%) and Les Gosses (1%) vineyards. Fruit was harvested between 9/19 and 10/25. This wine was cold soaked overnight then inoculated with yeast, fermented for 7-10 days on skins while being pumped over twice daily before pressing to barrels, where it underwent malo-lactic fermenation. It was 100% barrel aged for 18 months in 51% new oak, 60% French and 40% American.
HARVEST The 2017-2018 winter was extremely mild, fairly dry and quite the opposite of the snow and ice ravaged winter we saw the year before. This mild winter really tricked the vines and other early Spring bud pushing plants to sprout out quickly. Hedges’ estate vineyards were pruned early (beginning in late January) in anticipation for this early bud break and the vines really responded well. We added a few more Biodynamic practices into the mix, such as home brewed horsetail tea spray, which helped us escape some mildew pressure in June. The heat of summer and long sunny days advanced ripening, but the maturation period of early September and October was mild which made for a harvest that you could pick fruit at a slow and steady pace. Overall the 2018 vintage is going to be a good one!
92 James Suckling
90 Jeb Dunnuck
Sarah Hedges Goedhart
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