Mercer Family Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Vineyard Sourcing

The grapes for this wine come from our estate vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills. The Cabernet Sauvignon hails from Spice Cabinet, Cavalie, Eagle & Plow, and Big Tee Pee. The Syrah from our Milt’s and Spice Cabinet vineyards and the Merlot from Spice Cabinet and Dead Canyon vineyards.

Growing Season

The 2017 vintage started in early September, which is what we typically expect. The past 4-5 years have brought grapes in as early as the middle of August. The warm days and cool nights of September gave us ample fruit flavor development balanced with bright acidity. Some cold events in mid-October definitely put the pressure on to get fruit off the vines. Despite the cool spell, our fruit had plenty of time to ripen, developing intense flavors and dusty tannins.

Winemaking

These grapes were sorted in the vineyard with the selective harvest on our Pellenc harvesters. The fruit was not crushed in order to preserve as much whole-berry as possible. At the winery, individual lots were fermented in stainless steel tanks. Twice daily pumpovers allowed gentle extraction of color and tannins. After draining the wine and pressing the skins, the wine was racked to a blend of French and American oak barrels for malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged in barrel for 20 months before being blended together for bottling.