Winemaking
Blend: 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot
Hand Harvested & Hand Sorted
Cooperage: 20 months in a combination of 4% new French oak, 57% 1 year old French oak & the balance in neutral barrels.
Harvest Date: 10/13-10/26/2018
Harvest Brix: 21.0 -22.5°
Alcohol: 12.5%
Total Acidity: 5.4 g/L
pH: 3.67
Unfined & Unfiltered
Bottling Date: 3/3/2020
Vineyard Sites
100% East Side of Seneca Lake
Tasting Notes & Food Pairing
The 2018 vintage is softer and more delicate than those from hotter, dryer years, and the 2018 Meritage is a real treat. To the eye, we see a striking dark-toned ruby fill the goblet. On the nose beginning with tantalizing aromas of vanilla, rich brambleberries, cedar and oak, we move on to a palate rich with tobacco, cocoa and an almost savory aspect of heavily whipped, unsweetened cream, fruited with baked black caps! This is a truly beautiful Meritage featuring taut tannins that should give this wine a healthy bottle life.
Pair with:
Steak, simply seasoned, grilled or cast-iron seared
Hard, Aged Cheeses — Parmesan, Pecorino, Sharp/Aged Cheddar
Roasted Chicken, Pork, Beef
Beef Wellington
Mushrooms
Mushroom Risotto
Cheesy Pastas
Pork BBQ
Drink Window: Drink now through 2029+
Serving Temp.: 60-65°f
Vintage Notes
Simply put, 2018 was a challenge. The year started out just fine. Winter was relatively mild by Finger Lakes standards. Though we didn’t get much of a spring, what little we experienced was relatively average. By July, however, it was beginning to look like we might have a repeat of 2016-- we hadn’t seen any rain since mid-spring. We needn’t have worried—by the end of July it started raining and never stopped. It felt like we didn’t see the sun again for the rest of the year! So yes, the year was challenging. Faced with such intense humidity and not a lot of intense sunlight during harvest we were again reminded why our philosophy of hand harvesting all of our fruit is so important. This year hand harvesting allowed us to cull and drop any questionable fruit right there on the ground leaving us confident that we were starting with only the healthiest and most robust grapes we grew and that we were creating the best wines possible – just a little less of it.
