NV J. Bookwalter Red Table Wine Lot #20
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TASTING NOTES:
This wine, our 20th multi-vintage blend in 22 years is aged exclusively in small, carefully selected French oak barrels.
Aromatically Lot No. 20 is quite seductive with it’s resin, toasted spice, cherry and cassis characteristics.
The entry of the wine is sweet and the middle palate is generous with it’s cherry, currant, plum, fig and toasted oak flavors.
The wine has a lengthy finish with firm tannins that will allow for mid-term cellaring. Best now through 2012.
WINEMAKER NOTES:
Vintage - This unique multi-vintage wine is a blend from the outstanding vintages of 2004 (79%) and 2005 (21%). The lot number indicates in sequential order how many multi-vintage blends our winery has produced since 1983.
Vineyards - Nine vineyards from the Columbia Valley, Horse Heaven Hill and Red Mountain appellations make-up this wine.
Winemaking - All the grapes were hand harvested at optimal maturity and hand sorted over a conveyor belt before crushing and de-stemming. After gentle crushing to maintain a high percentage of whole berries, the different wine lots were cold soaked in open and closed top fermentors for 24 to 48 hours. Once inoculated with Bordeaux Red yeast, the wine was allowed to ferment at temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Two to three daily punchdowns coupled with aerative pumpovers precipitated gentle extraction. After approximately 5 to 7 days of fermentation, the wines were gently basket pressed between 5 and 12 Brix. All the free run and press wines were separated and aged independently from one another. Primary and malolactic fermentations were completed in new and used French oak barrels. During the aging process, the wines were gently racked from barrel to barrel every three months and egg white fined before bottling to help soften the tannins and improve the clarity of the wines. The various wines for our “Lot” program are chosen after final selection is made for our varietal wine program. Generally, the “Lot” wines include younger vine fruit and press wine from our older, more established vineyards.
Final Blend - 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot , 26% Syrah, and 2% Petit Verdot.
Aging - All of the various lots for this wine were aged in 1 to 3 year old 100% French oak barrels for varying amounts of time depending on the vintage.
Cases Produced - 3006 cases 750 ml, 80 cases 1.5 ltr.
Technical Data - Bottled March, 2006, pH 3.79, TA .59, alcohol 14.5% by volume.
SOURCE:http://www.bookwalterwines.com/wines/wineinfo.src?ID=44 -- MV • Lot 20 Columbia Valley Red Wine