2018 LA HAUTE CUVÉE
Tasting notes
Tasting Notes: Gorgeous deep red color. Savory black fruit, ripe fig, cocoa powder, touch of fresh ground coffee, vanilla, clove and ginger spice. Lush, yet elegant body with flavors of black cherry, dried fig, black pepper, vanilla, and clove. Fine grained tannins lead into a smooth, lingering and balanced finish!
Production: Grapes are from the Biodynamically farmed Hedges Vineyard and Magdalena Vineyard, which is in the Red Mountain AVA. The wine was destemmed and partially crushed into stainless steel fermenters, where it was allowed to begin fermenting with native yeast. It was pumped over twice daily until desired tannin extraction was achieved. It was then pressed to barrels where it underwent “native” malo-lactic fermentation, then racked off lees and 100% barrel aged for 26 months in 50% new oak, 64% American oak and 36% French oak barrels
Cellaring: Open it now, open it in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years. It’ll wow you each time in a different way. It will age very well, as all Red Mountain wines tend to do.
Harvest Notes: 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!
