2018 Merlot, McKinley Springs Vineyard

2021 Seattle Wine Awards - Gold (92)

Throughout harvest, Winemaker Richard Batchelor worked closely with the grower and visited the vineyard to taste for maturity and ripeness to determine the precise moment to pick the fruit. Grapes were hand-harvested during the cool hours of the morning to preserve bright fruit notes. This single vineyard lot underwent a five day pre-fermentation cold soak before the tank was allowed to go through a native fermentation to dryness in about 21 days. Only the free run juice was collected and no press fraction was used in the making of this wine. The lots were then aged for 21 months. For the first year this wine was stirred in barrel on its lees and racked when necessary to soften the tannins. After the first 12 months, the wine was racked off the lees for clarity before bottling.