WINE TECHNICALS:

Certified Organically Grown
Harvest date: September 24, 2021
Fruit source: Steep Slope Pommard clone planted 2002
Grapes at harvest: Brix 23.8, pH 3.2, TA 7.7 g/L
Finished wine: Alcohol 13.4 %, pH 3.7, TA 5.1 g/L
Barrel aged 11 months in French oak, 40% new barrels
115 cases bottled unfined on August 30, 2022
 

VINIFICATION:

The grapes were destemmed into a 4-ton open top stainless steel fermenter. After a three day cold soak, fermentation initiated and the wines were punched down twice per day until a peak temperature of 90° F was reached, then pumped over once per day until dryness. The new wine was then pressed, settled for 72 hours, and racked
to barrels for eleven months.
 

WINEMAKER NOTES: 

We had long considered the Steep Slope for a singular wine, but for years it was too mercurial in nature (much like the equally mercurial Southeast Block one hundred feet below), showing show-stopping potential one year only to revert to a reticent, shy wine the next. We started to notice some consistency in 2018, and that trend continues to this day. This inaugural Steep Slope designate is a brooding, dark-fruited wine that rides a balance between opulent, plush texture and firm, mouth coating tannins.

FACT SHEET