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Appellation: |
Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District |
Vineyards: |
La Perla, Chevalier, Alba, Miravalle |
Varietals: |
Cabernet Sauvignon 66%, Merlot 34% |
Aging: |
23 months in 50% new French oak |
Production: |
2,810 Cases |
Retail Price: $110.00
Wine Club Price: $88.00
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Winemaker Notes
The result of the 2000 growing season at Spring Mountain has yielded a wine with bright fruit, spice, and a hint of mint, with an undertone of earthiness. These flavors combine with quality oak, smooth tannins, and a balanced structure to become a full-bodied wine.
The grapes were harvested by hand from mid to late September 2000, with an average of 24.7 Brix. All the fruit was cold soaked and fermented in stainless steel tanks with native yeast. After primary fermentation the wine was drawn off and barreled down into 50% new French oak and encouraged to complete malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged for 23 months in oak barrels and bottled in September 2002.
The 2000 Vintage
While bud break occurred at the expected time, the growing season was generally cool. Mid-season the valley experienced a brief heat spell bringing some of the highest recorded temperatures in Napa Valley history, with Calistoga registering 118 degrees. The average, valley-wide, was a blistering 113 degrees to 114 degrees Fahrenheit, though Spring Mountain was several degrees cooler. A couple of days of rain in September gave the grapes the extra kick to keep hanging and ripening and allowing the full natural flavors to develop on the vine. In retrospect our only disappointment with the 2000 harvest was that it was too small.
Spring Mountain Vineyard
Originally four individual historic Napa Valley properties, Miravalle, La Perla, Alba, and Chevalier have now been combined to create an 850-acre estate of forest and vineyard on the eastern slopes of Spring Mountain overlooking the small town of Saint Helena. Over 225 acres of the estate are planted to vine, creating 135 separate hillside vineyard blocks each with its own unique soil, exposure, and microclimate. The vineyard is planted in densities of 4,000 vines per acre and trained to the ancient gobelet form, a vertical trellising method that was invented in an earlier millennium by the Romans.
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