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 March
2010
Greetings from the beautiful Napa Valley,
Shibumi Knoll Vineyards is pleased to announce the release of our 2008 Buena
Tierra Vineyard Chardonnay. We are very excited about the ’08 Chardonnay as,
from the barrel, the wine has the potential to be the finest we’ve produced
to date. The Chardonnay will be bottled in early March and shipped in May.
As many of you know, ever since we received the highest score given a
California Chardonnay this century by the Wine Spectator, a 97 given to our
2005 Chard in 2008, the Chardonnay has sold out very quickly. However, as a
matter of practice, we don’t submit our wines for tasting to either the Wine
Spectator or the Wine Advocate. It was by accident that our ’05 Chardonnay
was scored by the Spectator. I’d given Mitch Johnson, a golf pro at the Napa
Valley Country Club, a bottle as a gratuity for a lesson. He, in turn,
shared it with James Laube, the California editor of the Wine Spectator, who
is also a member. Before I knew it, my phone was ringing off the hook.
Therefore, many are familiar with the quality of our Chardonnay but not so
many that of our Cabernet. We know the Shibumi Knoll Vineyard Cabernet
Sauvignon is extremely good as we regularly taste it blind with the highest
scoring and highest priced California Cabernets and find it very
competitive. As an incentive to get more folks to try our Cabernet, with
this release, we’re offering the ’06 Shibumi Knoll Cabernet at the same
price as the Chardonnay. This is a one-time offer, a blatant marketing ploy
to get you to try our Cabernet. Once you taste it, we feel the wine will
sell itself. The ‘06 is Joann’s favorite vintage of Cabernet to date. It is
delicious.
Just a quick note on the bottle format. Like most, for many years (decades
if truth be told), the vast majority of the wine I bought was in 750ml
bottles. It’s only been in recent years that I’ve come to realize how much
sense it makes to have half bottles and magnums in the cellar. Many nights
Joann and I don’t feel like drinking a whole bottle so we’ll pull out a
375ml. Fairly often we do dinner parties for eight or ten. Pouring wine from
magnums just adds to the fun of the evening. By the way, magnums seem to be
the optimum format for aging wine. For example, the 1974 Heitz Martha’s
Vineyard Cabernet in my cellar is getting a little tired in the 750ml, where
as the magnums are still very young. By the way, the ’74 Martha’s is a great
bottle of wine!
One last tip. I was recently on a men’s ski trip with a friend who recalled
how he used to struggle to get the cork out of a bottle of Shibumi Knoll
with its wax capsule. Then I told him the secret. Don’t try to cut the wax
as you would foil. Using a lever corkscrew, simply screw through the wax
into the cork and pull it out. 95% of the time the wax will break around the
top of the cork and will come out easily. If the wax doesn’t break you may
have to make a small cut through the wax, on top, where the cork meets the
bottle before pulling it.
Below you will find a link to our order form as well as tasting notes on our
’08 Chardonnay and ’06 Cabernet.
Joann and I sincerely appreciate your support of Shibumi Knoll Vineyards.
Drink Moderately but Well,
Don & Joann Ross
Download the order form below and fax it to us at 707-968-9937.
NOTE: As of April 7, 2010, the '08 Chardonnay Magnums are sold out,
and as of April 30, 2010, the '06 Cabernet Magnums are sold out.
|
Winemaker Tasting Notes |
|
2008 Chardonnay
Buena Tierra Vineyard, Russian
River |
| Harvest Date: |
October 1st, 2008 |
| Tons Harvested: |
5,43 tons |
| Acreage: |
2.25 acres |
| Yield: |
2.41 tons/acre |
| Brix at Harvest: |
25.4 |
| pH at Harvest: |
3.50 |
| TA at Harvest: |
0.64 g/100 ml |
| Barrel Aging: |
17 months sur lie in 70% new French oak |
| Bottling Date: |
March 12, 2010 |
| Release Date: |
May 1, 2010 |
| Production: |
3,140 bottles in 750 ml, 480 in 375ml, and 30 in 1500
ml ma |
| Proprietor: |
Don and Joann Ross |
| Vineyard Manager: |
John Rauck |
| Winemaker: |
Chris Dearden |
| Harvest notes |
2008 was a vintage of moderation and balance. After a
relatively early budbreak during the middle of March, the balance of the
spring and summer progressed nicely, with mostly cool weather and few
heat spikes. The winter rains stopped abruptly after February and we
endured our second dry vintage in a row. After a few warm days at the
end of August, winemakers readied themselves for the impending harvest.
Many varieties came in in the early days of September. The cool and
foggy Russian River area allowed for more hang time for the Chardonnay
and it “held” until the first of October. Timing is critical for the
pick and especially for the Buena Tierra Vineyard. These beautiful
gnarled vineyard “veterans” develop flavor in the fruit slowly as one
would expect from the 40 year old vines. Deep, golden colored fruit is
the result of patience and a lot of TLC by John Rauck’s vineyard team. |
| Winemaking |
Meticulous training, leaf removal and thinning in the
vineyard, make hand picking the resultant fruit easy. The delicious,
golden clusters produce a juice with beautiful aromas of Fuji apples,
Maui gold pineapples and golden raisins. The juice was fermented on
“native yeasts”, producing a slow, gentle fermentation. The fermentation
began slowly and progressed at its own pace over the next month and was
then stirred weekly for 16 months to coax the primary and malolactic
fermentations to completion. |
| Tasting notes |
The 2008 vintage is the fifth release of Shibumi Knoll
Chardonnay from the Buena Tierra Vineyard. Following up on a delicious
2007 wine, 2008 produced a wine that is “bottled poetry” with deference
to Robert Louis Stevenson. Although still a baby, the 2008 Shibumi is
bright and expressive with layers and layers of fruit, spice and
character. The initial aromas of baked apple and ripe lemon zest are
congruent with the hazelnut and beurre’ blanc. It is immediately
mouthfilling and pleasant on the palate with complex caramel and vanilla
bean gelato blended seamlessly with the citrus-apple flavors. Texture is
the extra element that completes this full bodied and decadent yet
balanced wine. The weight of the liquid is apparent but never cloying or
heavy. It coats the mouth with elements of crème brulee, poached bosc
pears, baked pistachios, freshly baked sourdough bread and jasmine.
Definitively Californian in style, this wine has a an international
appeal that is more typical of Corton Charlemagne than of a California
Chardonnay. The Russian River is one of the best regions in the world
for producing fine Chardonnay, and we feel that the Buena Tierra
Vineyard has proven itself worthy of being at the top of this class.
This wine will improve with 2-3 years of age, and will pair excellently
with local Dungeness crab, Pacific halibut with Fuji apple chutney, San
Joaquin Gold cheese or entirely on its own. It will improve when stored
at 55 degrees Fahrenheit through 2014. |
|
Winemaker Tasting Notes |
|
2006 Cabernet
Sauvignon
Shibumi Vineyard |
| Harvest Date: |
October 20th, 2006 |
| Tons Harvested: |
3.145 |
| Brix at Harvest: |
25.3 |
| pH at Harvest: |
3.69 |
| TA at Harvest: |
0.55 g/100 ml |
| Bottling Date: |
August 22nd, 2008 |
| Release Date: |
September 1st, 2009 |
| Production: |
2,031 bottles of 750ml, 60 bottles of 1.5 L, & 60-375
ml |
| Proprietor: |
Don Ross |
| Vineyard Manager: |
David Abreu |
| Winemaker: |
Chris Dearden |
| Harvest notes: |
The 2006 was a late vintage of moderation. A very late
Budbreak after April 1st was a harbinger of another longer ripening
season, caused in part by an extremely wet and cool early spring. On the
whole, the spring was wet and the summer mild which continued into the
early fall. As a result, harvest came later for the second year in a
row. An early sprinkle that only served to wash the dust off the grapes
was followed by near perfect conditions that allowed substantial hang
time and fully ripened fruit. Optimum flavor and balance are paramount
when making picking decisions. October 20th was the date when the fruit
was picked. The cool and foggy morning was fortuitous as the days
leading up to it had warmed considerably. The Shibumi Knoll Vineyard is
located three miles north of the town of St. Helena on an extremely
well-drained and rocky knoll rising above the valley floor. It is a
spectacular site with which to craft a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon. |
| Winemaking: |
“Hands” are the key words to describe the winemaking
process for Shibumi Knoll. Handpicked fruit, hand-sorting and
hand-punched are the keys to ensuring that the best fruit is treated
with the utmost care and attention to detail. Each cluster is a perfect
example of the Cabernet Sauvignon variety. After gentle destemming, the
“must” was poured into a small, open-topped fermentor where it soaked
for four days prior to beginning fermentation. The fermentation lasted
ten days and was then extended for an additional two weeks for a total
of 28 days of maceration. It was lightly pressed and separated from the
press fraction and placed into 80% new, tight-grained Allier and
Troncais type Gamba and Taransaud French Oak barrels. After 22 months
and four rackings off of the sediment for clarity, 169 cases were
bottled unfined and unfiltered on August 22nd, 2008. It was aged for 12
months in the bottle prior to release. |
| Tasting Notes: |
“Effortless Perfection” is the goal our Cabernet
Sauvignon at Shibumi Knoll. The 2006 vintage is dense and mouth-filling
from first sip to the last joyous drop in each bottle. It combines the
best of site specificity: rocky, hillside character with effusive and
opulent valley floor Cabernet. It is distinct and elegant, with enough
structure to age well and supple, grainy tannins that are immediately
enjoyable. Unmistakable Shibumi Knoll cherry and spice are hallmarks of
this great vineyard as well as a great depth of flavor that we feel is
the “soul” of the wine. Semi-sweet, dark chocolate, blackberries and
vanilla extract are evident on the palate. Toasted hazelnuts, sage and
glove leather complement the fruit aromas and flavors. Smooth tannins
allow it to be a versatile pair with a wide range of dishes from Steak
au Poivre to Porcini Risotto and Black Forest Mousse Pie. This wine will
age well for up to two decades. |
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