The 2009 Mossback Cabernet Sauvignon shows enticing aromas of chocolate covered cherries, leather and spice with notes of tobacco, smoke and crushed black pepper. The bouquet is reminiscent of walking a dusty path through a ripe blackberry patch. The flavors are velvety soft, with concentrated blackberry and black cherry with subtle pomegranate highlights. Chocolate, espresso and barrel spices of toasted malt round out the finish.
Blend: 77% Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Chalk Hill Merlot
Production: 1,200 cases
A small and intense crop due to long cool spring. The Heat wave that damaged many Sonoma county vineyards had little effect on our cab grapes.
The grapes were hand harvested into half-ton bins then destemmed and crushed into small stainless steel fermenters. The must was then chilled to 50°F for 24 hours for its cold soak to enhance the berry aromas and juice was bled from the tank to concentrate flavors. After the cold soak, the tanks were allowed to warm naturally and slowly inoculated with a Bordeaux yeast isolate. We pumped over the wine twice a day using an aeration cart to enhance color stability and aromas. The wine was pressed off at dryness and then aged in French, Hungarian and American oak barrels for 26 months. The final blend contains 23% merlot to enhance smoothness and increase the velvety structure.
