The 2018 vintage in California was one that rewarded patience. A welcome reprieve from the string of hot, drought-prone years that preceded it, and the disastrous nature of the wildfires that impacted 2017, this new vintage granted Napa Valley and many other viticultural areas a ripe but balanced crop. The near picture-perfect growing season began with budbreak in late February. Spring was mild, with even flowering that yielded uniform grape clusters. Temperatures remained steady and warm throughout the growing season, without any significant heat spikes, making for an even, unhurried harvest. After a brief cool down in October slowed things down a little, the average (yet largest since 2012) crop size allowed continued ripening under gentle conditions.

The grapes are hand-harvested and gently crushed to retain 60% whole berries. Color and tannin extraction is accomplished via gentle cap irrigations. The grapes were drained and pressed at dryness. The free-run and press wines were kept separate. Following fermentation, the wine went through malolactic fermentation in barrel and was then aged as independent lots. The components were aged in all French oak barrels for 19 months and racked several times to naturally clarify the wine while developing and softening the tannins. With only light filtration and no fining, the wine was laid down in bottle for over a year prior to release.

Fortunately, a brief Indian summer before the next rain spell allowed even the latest vineyard sites to finish what they started. Given what was to come in the next two vintages, we now look back at 2018 as a great blessing, on par the with some of the best vintages of the 2000s. We carefully scheduled picking to take advantage of the season, often in the coolest hours approaching sunrise. Handling the grapes at the winery was relatively smooth, allowing us to avoid the bottleneck crunch that comes with hotter or wetter years, and permitting us the time to carefully sort and treat all the vineyard blocks as they deserved. Fermentations were not rushed or consolidated for the sake of tank space and incoming swarms of fruit, allowing our winemaker enough time to make unhurried decisions.