Vineyard: A portion of the Sweetwater Ranch in the Oak Knoll Appellation was the source for this distinctive Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The Oak Knoll Appellation is located just north of the city of Napa and east of the town of Yountville. Grapes from the Sweetwater Ranch provides a great purity of cassis fruit, mineral notes and a Bordeaux-like structure..

Harvest: 7.77 tons came in on 10/19/02 at 24.8 Brix, 0.55 TA and 3.66 pH. Since alternating hot spells and cool spells were the nature of weather in 2002. We waited until 35% of the grapes were dimpled, about 20% were still plump and squeaky, and about half had a beautiful black cherry flavor. Weather predicted for the next week was cold and foggy with sprinkles predicted for the end of the week.

Fermentation: After 3 days of cold soak with a few pumpovers, the color had deepened well, and the Brix had come up to 25.7. On Oct. 23rd, the tank was inoculated with Pasteur Red yeast, warmed to 84 degrees and received 2 pumpovers a day with the sprinkler device (POSD). As the temperature increased to 88 degrees, we gave it 3 POSDs per day including one POSD with the tub and screen to get some air into it. As fermentation wound down, it received two POSD with tub and screen per day until the color set and the flavors deepened. On November 6, the tank was dry iced and sealed, to wait for the tannins to complex and soften. By Nov. 12th this process had worked it's self
out and the tank was slowly drained and pressed.

Malolactic: As the tank was entirely dry ( 0.37 gram/Liter GF) it was inoculated for ML with Viniflora Oenos (Nov. 16th) and put into barrels to complete ML (Nov. 26th). By 1/6/03, the Cab, now LVCS-2260, finished ML and it was racked into a tank for blending and SO2 addition Jan 23, 2003.

Barrels: 20 barrels @ 20% American, 80% French, 70% new
3 02 Seguin Moreau SC+FC 2 02 St Martin M+ HBL
3 02 Demptos CS MT+TH 2 02 Radoux Appalachian TS M+TH
2 02 Alain Fouquet MT 2 02 Nadalier Missouri MT+TH
2 00 Seguin Moreau MG+ 4 00 Demptos CSMT

Aging: LVCS-2260 was racked and blended in June 2003, then again in March 2004, when 5% Nelson Estate 2002 Cabernet Franc from Bennet Valley was added for a bit of spice. Final Rack from Barrel was on 5/17/04, when we also added 5% of the 2003 Sweetwater Cab - mostly to give us a little more volume, and a little fresh black cherry.

Bottling: LVCS-2260 was sterile bottled 5/24/04 with no pressure issues. It produced 464 cs of 12/750 and 48 cs 12/375.

Final Analysis: Alc. 14.83, TA 0.63, pH 3.72, VA 0.072, GF1.2 g/L, SO2 33/108