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2006 Textbook Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon "Mise en place", Oakville District, Napa Valley• Superbly mature and well-drained sites on east-side of Oakville AVA, next door to Screaming Eagle, down the road from Rudd & Joseph Phelps’ Backus Vineyard
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• ACCOLADES •2006 Vintage EXCELLENT & HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
2005 Vintage 91 points - OUTSTANDING 94 Points EXCELLENT! • Vintage 2005 •Winter rains seemed never ending but a warm May finally arrived and summer months showed normal temperature patterns. The typical heat wave in late July was a non-event and a cool August allowed for superb flavor development. Warm nights in September enabled us to hand harvest in early October with small bunches in immaculate condition with excellent flavor and balanced acids. • TWO REMARKABLE Vineyards •Our "Mise en place" Cabernet Sauvignon comes from two very special single vineyard sites located on the extreme eastern side of the Oakville District abutting the rugged and dry Vaca Mountain Range. This sub-section of the Oakville AVA is renowned for superb, richly-textured Cabernet Sauvignon and its terrain is characterized by steep hills which bask in warm, sunny afternoons offering an ideal growing environment. The vineyards soils profiles include gravelly alluvium (eroded off the nearby mountains) covered by shallow gravelly loam and in some places large boulders. It is quite infertile and very well-drained. Planted in the early 1980s and 1990s, these two sites clonal material includes heritage clones (likely from Beaulieu Block) as well as Clones 4 and 337. Exemplary sustainable farming practices are employed in these mature sites and after veraison we again culled unevenly ripened bunches which reduced yield to less than 4 pounds per vine (@ 3.25 tons/acre), which is quite low for Oakville. • Winemaking •Our Cabernet Sauvignon clusters were field sorted, hand-harvested and then hand-sorted at the winery on October 4 and October 9 at an average of 26.2 Brix. We "cold soaked"them for 4 days in open-top temperature-controlled fermenters. Several daily punchdowns during fermentation kept the cap immersed in must and extracted superb flavor and structure. After three weeks on their skins we gently pressed into French oak barriques where it slowly completed its ML fermentation. Barrels were of the highest quality; 100% French, 55% new, three-year air dried, medium toast with toasted heads and handcrafted by Boutes, Francois Frères and Nadalié. A touch of hillside Cabernet Franc added structure while a kiss of Oakville Merlot provided a dense softness and classic "Bordeaux Blend" profile. Twenty-two months in barrel with five hand rackings and two egg white finings integrated flavors and developed its wonderful, dense mouth-feel. Press fractions were not used. We bottled twelve barrels in July 2008. It is called "Mise en place" to reflect the preparation and diligence exercised in the vineyards and winery. We believe it is a "textbook" example of this noble variety grown in this outstanding appellation. It can be enjoyed over the next decade. • Wine Facts • Regional Composition: 100% Oakville District
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