“Something truly noble and profound can be found, once again, in the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Impassable Mountain. This just has richness beyond belief, and a level of complexity and je ne sais quoi character that is hard to articulate. This is extraordinary winemaking, obviously a great terroir, and a historic effort from the folks at Immortal Estate. I don’t think that 2014 will ever achieve the perfection of the 2013, but it will sure be fun to compare them over the next 40-50 years, if any of us live that long.”
(96pts-98pts) — Robert Parker Jr
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Four pack box |
Collector pack. |
2014 Impassable Mountain Winemaking Notes
2014 Viticultural Season: The year began as dry as dry could be, beginning our the third year of drought. There was practically no rainfall in 2013, which made that a superlative growing season. Now that same lack of rain, the longest on record for Sonoma County, became a significant concern. Would our aquifers hold out for the new growing season? Dry farming is only possible if the ground is charged with water the winter before, but we had had less than 4 inches of rain the entire year before, hardly enough for cactus, let alone for vines.
Fruit was selected for harvest by taste, picking in small lots over the course of two weeks, harvesting the fruit by hand at night. The clusters were sorted by hand prior to destemming and the berries were sorted to remove raisins and stem fragments. The fruit was held cold in tank for prior to native fermentation and allowed to macerate on the skins for up to 50 days prior to gelte pressing. The new wines were sent to french oak barrels to rest for 28 months prior to bottling unfined and unfiltered.
Harvest Dates: October 10th and 11th
Varieties and Clones: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, UCD4 and UCD8
Brix at Harvest: 28.2
pH 3.84
TA 6.47
From our finest lots individual barrels are selected each year to compose the Impassible Mountain. This vintage, two lots from the upper ridgeline were selected for their power and pure expression of our unique terroir. A study in focus and purity, its concentration and structure will allow it to evolve and unfold for decades to come. This inimitable wine shows dense characters both savory and sweet: black fruit, raspberry, vanilla, clove, cocoa nib, tarragon, cedar, black tea, in endless recursive layers of flavor and texture.
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