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Vintage: | 2008 |
Wine Type: | Red Wine |
Varietal Composition: | |
84% | Merlot |
9% | Tannat |
4% | Petit Verdot |
3% | Cabernet Sauvignon |
Harvest Date: | September 21-October 23, 2008 |
Sugar: | 22.9 avg brix |
Acid: | 5.95 g/l |
PH: | 3.71 |
Aging: | 18 months - New American oak |
Barrel Aging: | |
18 months | |
50% | New Missouri Oak |
50% | New Virginia Oak |
Ageability: | 2015-2020 |
Fermentation: | Indigenous yeast - stainless steel |
Bottling Date: | August 16, 2010 |
Residual Sugar: | 0 |
Alcohol %: | 14 |
This dark ruby wine shoots out complex aromas of rose petal, pomegranate, red licorice and soft hints of wood smoke. The palate is round full and intense with mouth coating silky tannins. The fruit explodes in the mouth showing a great blend of black berry and raspberry combining with and intriguing minerality in the long finish. The tannins will continue to mellow in barrel over the next few months and the wine will age gracefully over the next several years bringing in more earthy complex aged wine character.
The fruit for the Commonwealth CasaNoVA 2008 was harvest from several different vineyards from around the State of Virginia. The Merlot came from one of our partner vineyards near Roanoke – Mountainview Vineyards as well as our Road, Pond and Hill estate Vineyards. Mountainview Vineyard is a “Mountain Vineyard” on the where the fruit is at over 1300 feet elevation. This gives cooler nights and deep rockier soils allowing more minerality and deeper fruit. The Hill vineyard is a south facing slope that creates most of Tarara’s best fruit. The soils are deeper and there is better air movement coming from the closer proximity to the Potomac River. This helps the fruit enjoy a longer potential hang time in Loudoun’s warmer fall evenings. The fruit from the Hill tends to be richer and more complex. The Road Vineyard is the flattest site with the shallowest soils creating fruit that is harvested earlier and more fruit driven as a great blending component. The Pond Vineyard is our coolest site protected from the harsh afternoon sun. This preserves the acidity adding to the blend longevity and freshness. The Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat came from another one of our partner vineyards – Tranquility Vineyards in Loudoun County. Tranquility Vineyard is a great south east facing slope just outside Purcellville. The grapes from this vineyard tend to be the last to come off the cine and show great ripe tannins and rich color. They also tend to show very robust dark berry fruit and a minty tone. The Petit Verdot is harvested from a partner vineyard just outside Waterford – Village Vineyards in Loudoun County that is managed by worked by Tarara staff and is known from deep, rustic, complex fruit with great acid and tannin structure. Harvest Conditions: The 2008 vintage was marked by timely rains, sometimes in excess and slightly cooler then average temperatures. Fruit set was fairly cool and wet creating some uneven berry development within the clusters forcing rigorous crop thinning to ensure the best ripening. July and August we warm but with cooler nights leading up to the harvest season helping the fruit maintain a good balance. In early September tropical storm Hanna dropped 6 inches of rain forcing the harvest back an extra couple of weeks lowering the crop in order to dry out the vineyard. We completed our harvest on October 23rd, approximately one week after our first major frost. Both the reds and whites are characterized by their lovely acid balance, lower then normal alcohol, and elegant fruit. The 2008’s are great consumed young while the 2007’s age, however the best will age gracefully over the mid term.
The Commonwealth TerraNoVA is created through selecting our two favorite barrels of our Merlot dominated blend. It was a blend of one Virginia Oak barrel and one Missouri oak barrel. The grapes were all cold soaked for up to 8 days for good color, tannin and flavor extraction from the skins prior to the presence of alcohol. We bled off (saignee) 10% of the juice from each of the fermentations (with the exception of the Tannat which required no saignee) to create a better skin to juice ratio increasing extraction and therefore structure. The fermentations were fairly quick and warm having their peak temperatures range anywhere from 80-95 degrees Fahrenheit. The total time the wine spent on the skins ranged from about 23 days to 29 days. The wine is due to stay in barrel for 18-20 months and will be assessed as to the qualities and hopefully bottled unfined and unfiltered.
This wine would show beautifully with Mill Creek Farms Flank Steak marinated in Vintage 50’s Point of Rocks Pale Ale, Sesame Oil, and lime grilled to medium rare and served along side oven roasted Farmer John’s beets and fingerling potatoes coated with local Amish butter and a touch of garlic.
50 cases
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