2018 Belle Canyon Zinfandel

Appellation: Dry Creek Valley

Sensory Notes: Bright ruby, this medium-bodied wine hangs in perfect balance between fruit and earth tones. Aromas of tart cherries, liquorice and a hint of baking spice lead into hints of wood with a wonderfully soft and supple mouthfeel. Incredibly memorable—this wine is one you will think about long after the bottle is empty. The perfect wine for Fall.

Vinification Notes: A beautiful growing season ended with relatively early rains, leaving balanced fruit that was harvested earlier than average. We harvested fruit for this wine on September 13, September 15, September 25 and September 27th. These picks were hand-harvested, sorted and destemmed before being placed into separate closed-top tanks for an average of 26 days of fermentation with twice-daily pumpovers occurred. The wine lots were barreled down in a combination of 85% French and 15% American oak, 8% being new oak for 27 months. Select barrels of the four lots were combined together after extensive blending trials, placed into tank then bottled.

Vineyard Notes: The 2018 Belle Canyon expresses the beautiful fruit and texture of the Dry Creek Valley appellation. Our Lily Hill Estate makes up 57% of this blend, Maple Vineyards’s benchland fruit 25%, our neighbors the Zichichi Vineyard 8%, our neighboring vineyard Collier Falls Vineyard 8%, and 2% from Louvau Vineyard.

Cellar Recommendations: Enjoy now through 2029.