The Vintage
2007 is being hailed as "the vintage of the decade" and indeed it was a peaceful, even and picture perfect growing season. A cold winter delayed bud break and flowering a few weeks, alleviating the threat of frost to young shoots. The moderate temperatures throughout the summer provided extended time on the vines, producing grapes of superb concentration and intensity as well as lively acidity.
Winemaking Notes
The Merlot was picked on October 29th and 30th (24.8 brix,3.58pH,.66gms/100ml TA), and de-stemmed before fermentation. A few tons were placed into open top fermenters where they were punched down by hand twice a day, and the balance of the fruit placed into a tank where it was pumped over twice each day. This experiment was designed to see how to best extract flavor and color and tame tannins in the wine. We discovered that our Merlot likes a lot of oxygen during fermentation and extended maceration so tanks and pumpovers are the way to go! Once primary fermentation was complete, the new wine was racked into a combination of barriques (60 gallon barrels) and puncheons (92 Gallon barrels), 20% of which were new. Again, lots of experimentation, but we have found that the barrel tannins work with the skin tannins to produce softer and more elegant textures in the finished wines. The Merlot was racked only once during its eighteen months in barrel and then bottled with no fining and light filtration on July 1, 2009.
Tasting Notes
This is one intense Merlot, and as with all Buttonwood reds will continue to evolve and improve with cellaring. The dark garnet color foretells of the depth and intensity of the wine, which produces plum and cedar aromas with a first swirl, and then produces black cherry and redcurrant notes with time in the glass. Cocoa flavors and texture are prominent on the palate, along with dried blueberry and black cherry, tobacco leaf and hints of cassis, thyme and sage. The dusty tannins linger on the finish, mingling with more plum and earthy, gravelly notes characteristic of these estate old vines. Try it with a garlic and rosemary rubbed rack of lamb, smoked over low heat and served with goat cheese mashed potatoes.
420 cases produced
