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PLEASE NOTE:
All orders with GROUND shipping will be held until October 2023.
For temperature-controlled summer shipping options, please email kelsey@immortalestate.com.
2018 Immortal Slope
Our 2018 Slope is rich with dark brambly fruit framed by sweet spices, coffee, and chocolate, all carried on a supple yet dense palate. As the wine opens, it reveals layers of flavor: blackberry, blueberry, lavender, and spice cake, completed by black plum, sweet tobacco, black tea, Muscovado sugar, and espresso. While the mountainside tannins provide a dense framework to carry the wine, they are well-ripened, supple, and relax into velvet with decanting. Accessible in its youth, it will continue to evolve for decades.
Variety: 97.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.5% Petit Verdot
Vineyard: Hidden Ridge Vineyard
Cab Clones: 4, 8, 169, 377
Harvest: October 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30
Production: 7218 6-packs
2018 Viticultural Season
The 2018 growing year was a return to more typical patterns than in years past, albeit on the slightly cooler side. Moderate late Winter and early Spring rains provided sufficient water to recharge the soils and fill our reservoir for use as needed throughout the season. Our work this growing season was managing canopy and fruit balance to ensure properly exposed, well-ripened fruit. The weather cycled through modest warm and cool periods without any real extremes. Overall, the vintage is very reminiscent of those a decade earlier, showcasing ripe fruit with well-ripened seeds and skins providing abundant color, flavor, texture, and balance.
Winemaking Notes
Vineyard blocks were selected for harvest by taste, selecting subsections of rows for each harvest day. The vineyard was harvested into thirteen lots over two 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 27 to 45 days, depending on the lot. The wines were pressed to 75% new French oak, where they underwent malolactic fermentation. Individual barrels from eleven lots were selected for the final blend. These wines were racked a total of three times during élevage and bottled unfiltered in July of 2021.
