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Diana Snowden Seysses is the winemaker for Snowden Vineyards. These are her notes on the harvest and the winesThe Snowden Ranch is located east of the Silverado Trail between Rutherford Hill Road and Taplin Road. The property is a quarter of a mile wide and a mile long, extending from the tiny Spring Valley at the west end over the hill into Conn Valley at the east end. From different places on the property you can see St. Helena, Rutherford, Oakville, Yountville, Napa, and, on a clear day, the Bay Area. Elevations on the property range from approximately 450 feet to over 850 feet.
The vineyards comprise approximately 24 acres at four different locations on the property. Most are planted at what we refer to as “the top of the property” – a relatively flat area on the ridge between Spring and Conn Valleys.The 2008s are shier than vintages past, but as someone who makes and loves Burgundy, I like a wine that waits for you to discover it. They are balanced and elegant with very fine tannins and a refreshing natural acidity.We harvest by hand and the grapes are still cool when they arrived at the winery. Native yeasts on the skins of the grapes start fermenting sugar about five days after picking. The grapes are in tank 3-4 weeks. Once we have extracted all the color and tannin from the skins, we drain the tanks and press the skins. Our wine goes into 100% French barrels, half of which are new and half of which are seasoned by vintages past. The wines stayed in barrel until May 8, 2010 when they were bottled, unfiltered.The vines began the 2008 growing season on very dry soils. We had unusually little rain fall in the winter of 2007/2008, a stress which encouraged the buds to push on the early side. This was coupled with the worst frost season experienced in 35 years. We are fortunate at Snowden that most of our vineyards are on a gentle slope; we had only a one-acre dip which was severely affected by frost damage. We took the opportunity to T-bud that parcel over so Sauvignon Blanc. Consequently, this year we produced a whopping 30 cases of 2009, our first ever estate-grown Sauvignon Blanc. Spring carried on with erratic weather patterns; a heat spike in May which reached 100°F in some areas, strong winds and rain. This resulted in irregular set and much shatter.
Summer was relatively cool, with only a few heat spikes, and the grapes were able to ripen slowly and gently developing good flavor and soft tannins. The Merlot was picked on the 15th of September; the Cabernet Sauvignon was picked over the first two weeks of October, finishing on the 13th of October.Varietal Blend: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petite Verdot.
Quantity: 975 cases
Alcohol: 15.0% |
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| The Sorting Table, LLC 1700 Second St. Suite 380 Napa, CA 94559 (707) 603-1460 |
Content and Images ©2013 The Sorting Table, LLC. |
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