Vineyard: Nakai

AVA: Russian River Valley, CA

Farming: Organic, Dry Farmed

Harvest Date: 19 September 2023

Bottling Date: 31 July 2024

Alc: 13%

Cases: 110

The only wine in this release from the warmer 2024 harvest, the Merlot shows the warmth and richness of its vintage.  Nakai vineyard ripened faster in 2024 than in 2023, and we picked the Merlot a full month earlier.  The resulting wine is dark and grippy, and is just finally relaxing enough to be drinkable, but will certainly age well for many years.

Once picked, the Merlot was foot crushed in tank and left to ferment whole cluster – no destemming at all, which adds to the freshness of the final wine.  After just over a week on skins, the Merlot was pressed to stainless steel to finish primary fermentation.  Once sugar dry, the wine was transferred to neutral oak barriques, and left to go through malolactic fermentation and age on its lees for 10 months.

In July 2024, all the barrels of Merlot were racked to tank for bottling.  This wine has spent an additional year aging in bottle before release.

Indigenous yeast fermentation. 25 ppm SO2 added at bottling, no other additions, unfined and unfiltered.