Vine Cliff2017 Oakville

Established in 1871 and noted as the premier Napa Valley winery, Vine Cliff Vineyard and Winery was resurrected from ghost winery status by the Sweeney family in the 1980s. Vine Cliff Winery produces limited quantities of ultra-premium, estate grown and from Oakville AVA and Los Carneros AVA respectively. Vine Cliff Vineyard encompasses a hundred acre estate with various elevations and terraced slope orientations that range from valley floor to a bench vineyard at 680 feet elevation. Our wines are reflective of our unique and highly acclaimed terroir and made in a balanced style with layer upon layer of subtlety and complexity.

WINE PROFILE: Gentle fruit handling, in a small lot fermenter; with great attention to quality are the rules for producing this great Malbec. The were hand-picked in the early morning to give us cold fruit for processing. Cold soaked before the must for several days gives the wine its rich color, and then fermented at high heat to extract the flavors. Once fermentation was finished, it was transferred to, and aged in 40% New French Oak barrels for 19 months. Our 2017 Oakville Malbec is a polished yet powerful wine, with a bright magenta rim and opaque purple center.

TASTING NOTES: On the nose, rich dark fruit prevails; exhibiting blackberries, red plum, vanilla, and new saddle leather. A full bodied and juicy palate, with notes of Satsuma plum, sweet spiced blackberries, vanilla, sweet pipe tobacco and cocoa powder. VINTAGE NOTES: After five seasons of drought, 2017 began with abundant rainfall, followed by a mild Spring resulting in extended flowering with little shatter. Our yields were low but the wines that filled our cellar were promising. The extreme heat that hit Northern California over the Labor Day weekend favored the vines with the correct row orientations. In areas where grapes were shaded from direct sunlight, or had deep soils, there was little affect other than pushing the projected harvest date forward by approximately one to two weeks which meant all our harvest was in tanks by end of September, well before the wildfires hit. Once we picked, we manually sorted through all of the fruit to select out any grapes that could adversely affect the wine.

VINEYARD NOTES: The grapes for our 2017 Oakville Malbec came exclusively from our renowned Vine Cliff Estate Vineyard in the Oakville AVA of the Napa Valley. The vineyard consists of only 6 rows alongside our outer border near the valley floor. While still terraced into our steep terrain, it obtains all the qualities and nutrients from the whole vineyard, as it soaks up both low elevation climate and moisture, as well as rocky soil concentrates of the hillside. Between the Oakville appellation and our unique farming practices of low yield production; these grapes and wine develop with incredible flavor and concentration.

SOIL: Volcanic origin Boomer gravelly loam ELEVATION: 280’-680’

VARIETAL COMPOSITION: 100% Malbec

COOPERAGE COMPOSITION: 40% new French Oak from coopers Taransaud, Seguin Moreau and Sirugue.

BARREL AGING: 19 months PRODUCTION QUANTITY: 130 cases