This wine is only available by allocation.
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2017 Impassable Mountain
Focus, balance and depth are the hallmarks of this wine. Sweet aromatic spices envelop red and black fruit on the nose. The palate is refined, supple but dense, revealing layers of sweet dark fruit, marionberry, black raspberry, and pomegranate, woven with sweet mulling spices, clove, anise and vanilla, dried rose petals, and finishing with dark and red chocolate and black tea carried on abundant ripe tannins. A serious mouthful, it will reward enjoyment on release and for decades to come.
VARIETY: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
VINEYARD: 100% Immortal Estate Vineyard
PRODUCTION: 329 cases 300 Magnums
VINEYARD
The Immortal Estate vineyard lies within an enclosed valley on steep mountainside slopes with mostly eastern and southern exposures at elevations ranging from 1100 to 1700 feet. The soils are a complex mixture of uplifted alluvium and decomposed volcanic material typical of the Mayacamas Range, and vary throughout the vineyard. The vineyard is on steep mostly terraced slopes. The lean soils and steep slopes naturally limit vine vigor and give remarkably small berried fruit. Although the vineyard is usually above the fog and sees warm days, the site is protected from inland heat and receives ocean cooling from early morning and late afternoon breezes that maintain our moderate our growing temperatures to somewhat cooler than Spring Mountain directly to the east. The extended growing day at moderate temperatures gives the fruit well developed tannins and rich texture yet preserves the complex fruit characters and natural acidity lost in warmer locations.
VINTAGE
Significant winter rains brought relief to both growers and vines throughout the North Coast after several years of drought. Our work this growing season was focused on using cover crops to dry down the vineyard after April rains and a cool spring, and managing and balancing vigorous canopies to insure properly exposed fruit. Despite the cool start and moderate summer, the late season turned warm a few real heat spells, particularly over Labor Day weekend. The weather remained warm through September and October, and an extreme windstorm on Sunday night October 8th, coupled with downed power lines, led to fires that ravaged the North Coast for weeks. The fires for us were a serious risk and concern, threatening us from North, South and East. We were spared direct impact thanks to the efforts of the CDF and our terroir defining winds from the Pacific Ocean, which was a continuous river of fresh air keeping the smoke at bay.
WINEMAKING:
Vineyard blocks were selected for harvest by taste, selecting subsections of rows for any harvest day. The vineyard was harvested into twelve lots over two and a half weeks, responding to the varying development of different aspects, elevations and rootstocks. Hand harvested and meticulously sorted, the fruit was allowed to cold soak prior to fermentation and further post fermentation maceration on the skins for a total of 30 to 40 days depending on the lot. The wines were pressed to 85% new French oak where they underwent malolactic fermentation. Individual barrels from two lots were selected for the final blend. These wines were racked a total of three times during elevage and bottled unfined and unfiltered in July of 2020.
