6 - 2013 Winemaker's Red, Columbia Valley
2013 Winemaker's Red, Columbia Valley
Best of Class - Six Nations Wine Challenge
Best of Class - Grand Cru Wine Competition
Maryhill's Winemaker's Blend is year after year an award winning and popular favorite. A Bordeaux with a twist, this blend is layered with jammy, rich, red fruit flavors, lined with hibiscus, tar and sweet cedar notes. Pleasing, balanced finish.
A slight smoky aroma with hints of blueberry, boysenberry, cherry and plum. Blueberry notes on the palate are accented by cherry and vanilla. Food-friendly and perfect for everyday drinking.
The Vintage
The 2013 vintage warmed up quickly creating warmer soil temperatures which resulted in early sap flow and bud burst, ahead of the normal averages. Warmer temperatures well through the season allowed shoot length to surge ahead and flowering to begin early, which is typically a week to ten days in Washington. This even flowering cycle was evident in cluster maturation across the vineyard, resulting in more uniform flavors in each block. Due to the favorable conditions, less fruit was dropped during veraison which resulted in slightly increased crop yields. It was a hot and even season from beginning to end.
The Vineyard
Sourced from our collection of award-winning vineyards in Washington state’s Columbia Valley AVA.
The Winemaking
Throughout harvest, Winemaker Richard Batchelor worked closely with local growers and visited each 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. Sourced from our collection of vineyards throughout Washington, each lot underwent a five day pre-fermentation cold maceration for color and fruit extraction. The fruit was kept separate by varietal and warmed up to begin the native yeast fermentation. Once pressed, these wines were blended together in similar lots for style and underwent Malolactic fermentation in tanks containing 40% new French Oak staves. At such time, the wines were slowly micro-oxygenated to enhance the softening of the tannins before the wine was blended. Aged on oak in tanks for 11 months.
Specs
Varietal Composition: Bordeaux-style red table wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, & Cabernet Franc)
Appellation: Columbia Valley
Harvested: September through October 2013
Bottled: August 6, 2014
Alcohol: 13.9%
RS: 0.37%
TA: 5.69 g/L
pH: 3.86
Cases Produced: 28,217
Production & Aging: Aged 11 months in tank with 40% French Oak staves