2007 Garden Creek Tesserae, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Assemblage, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County
Tasting Notes
Dark red. Begins with deep, dark fruit of blackberries, red fruits, black currants, and tobacco. Exudes beautiful, dense, blackberry aromas that echo through the mid-palate. A rich mouthfeel of silky-woven tannins and perfectly balanced acid. This wine shows the character of the land at Garden Creek and what we would consider a classic wine of ripe dark fruit combined with crisp acidity, and round, velvety soft tannins. A long lingering finish.
Vintage
The 2007 growing season began with a mild, dry winter. Bud break arrived early, setting a perfect crop with small clusters of highly concentrated berries. Summer had ideal weather with warm, consistent temperatures through veraison. The end of summer brought several heat spikes followed by moderate temperatures that prevailed through harvest. Fruit had a long period of time for phenolics as well as sugars to reach optimum levels. The result was a slow, steady harvest of exceptional quality, with wines showing great intensity and structure.
Harvest began early October hand-harvested and hand-selected over a 10-day stretch. Initial cold soaks lasted 8-10 days then heating tanks for a slow natural fermentation. Duration of fermentations went II days on average. Punch downs 2-4 times a day depending on the taste during the fermentations. Each lot (clones & varietal) of individually fermented and barreled down. Our Tesserae is introduced at the first racking - barrel by barrel. 20 months of elevage, with 3 rackings in the life of the barrel.
Details
Our Other Wines
Garden Creek Chardonnay
Garden Creek Vineyard, Alexander Valley
Estate Clonal Selection
A Chardonnay blend of clones we refer to as our Grand Dame. Each vintage an individual expression of 6 to 9 of the eleven clones estate grown meticulously chosen in the vineyard. French oak barrel fermentation, Eleven-months sur lie aging. Three additional years bottle aging.
WärneliusMiller Pinot Noir
Golden Fleece Vineyard, Anderson Valley
Mendocino
A Pinot Noir showcasing a classic varietal defining the intimate variation of soils in the land influenced by the cool Pacific climate capturing alluring, expressive elegant wines with texture, structure and tension.