'
Vintage: | 2012 |
Varietal Composition: | |
87% | Cabernet Sauvignon |
6% | Mourvedre |
4% | Dornfelder |
3% | Cabernet Franc |
Harvest Date: | Sep 3- Oct 25, 2012 |
Sugar: | Avg 23.2 |
Acid: | 6.01 g/l |
PH: | 3.83 |
Aging: | Virginia oak - 13 months |
Barrel Aging: | |
12 months | |
55% | Third use Virginia Oak |
30% | Second use Virginia Oak |
11% | New Virginia Oak |
4% | Neutral Virginia Oak |
Fermentation: | • Stainless (100%) • Blend of Indigenous and Commercial Yeast |
Residual Sugar: | 0 |
Alcohol %: | 13.0% |
A true pleasure to drink and probably our best Long Bomb to date. A dark violet colored wine with loads of lovely blueberry, blackberry and cassis on the nose with some undertones of savory meaty notes. The palate is firm but approachable with a medium body, velvety tannins and balanced acidity. Something to enjoy now, but there is also no rush. The wine should hold well for several years.
The fruit for the Long Bomb Ed Six 2012 came from Nevaeh Vineyard Road Block (30%), Nevaeh Vineyard Hill Block (25%), Nevaeh Vineyard Pond Block (5%), Tranquility Vineyard (26%), and a vineyard we source from on Carter Mountain in the Monticello AVA (12%), and a vineyard in Fredericksburg (2%) The Hill Block of Nevaeh vineyard is a south facing slope that creates most of Tarara’s richest 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. There are several limestone deposits that cut through the Hill block because of its close proximity to the river. The fruit from the Hill tends to be well structured and more complex showing a great combination of bright berry fruit and minerality. The Road is a flatter sight which is harvested earlier to maintain freshness and pulls fruit forward character at an early stage while also adding some herbal complexity. The Pond Block which is the coolest site in the Nevaeh Vineyard which is great for preserving aromatics and acidity in certain varietals. It too has many limestone deposits closest to the river valley. The wines tend to be fresher, more aromatics with citrus and floral notes. Tranquility Vineyard is a seven acre vineyard planted in 1999 by its owners: Al and Mary Taylor. Set in the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont, the vineyard sits at about 510 feet above sea level. The original planting included 4 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by one acre of Tannat in 2005. The final planting was about 1 and 3/4 acres of Pinot Gris in 2007. The soils are primarily comprised of "Pennsylvania Silt Loam", are very nutritionally rich and very rocky as well. The majority of the rows run in a North/South direction, with just one acre that runs East/West. Tannat, Pinot Gris and half of the Cabernet Sauvignon use a Vertical Shoot Trellis system, while the other half of the Cabernet Sauvignon is on a modified "Smart Dyson" system. The fall of the land is outstanding for both air and water drainage, making it a great location for a vineyard. The grapes have never been irrigated and thus have very deep roots, making them more drought resistant. The Carter Mountain vineyard that we source the Cabernet Franc from is a rolling higher elevation site. The Cabernet Franc is the highest elevation block of the vineyard with some shallower soils with more granite subsoil’s. This leads to better drainage and a bit more complexity in the wines.
The 2012 is said to be one of winemaker Jordan Harris’ favorite vintages to date. While some vineyard around the state did suffer from a little too much rain at harvest, many of the sites that Tarara works with really got away lucky. Nevaeh in particular with the small rain shadow of the Catoctins and the weather patterns that follow the Potomac really meant that Nevaeh didn’t receive any rain through the 2012 harvest season. It only benefited from the slightly lower resulting temperatures of nearby rains and the lack of humidity. In the end the 2012 season was about having some of the best balanced wines we have seen to date. The season started very early with an almost alarmingly warm and early spring causing bud-break in late March. It stayed warm so there were no significant frost issues that we were worried about. After that the summer never really heated up too much with the exception of the last two weeks of July and the first week of August. All together that put the harvest back on normal schedule which was superb since a worry had to harvest in the heat of the summer. The prolonged and generally mild season resulted in vibrant acidity, massive flavor concentration, moderate alcohol and beautifully ripe tannins. An overall very well balanced year unlike any we have seen in a long time.
The Long Bomb is one of the most fun blends to craft in that it is not defined by its site or its varieties. We aim to make this wine big, bold, exciting, fun and approachable much like our founder as this is a tribute wine for him, Whitie Hubert. In 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from several blocks led the way for this wine due to the long growing season giving it that ripe and approachable character while still maintaining a lot of its firm structures. Most of the varieties were made in a similar fashion with only the time on the skins really being dramatically different. They were all cold soaked between 6-8 days but the ferment was faster for the Mourvedre and Dornfelder and they were pressed at dryness to aim at being more fruit forward and easier going. The Cabs went through our more traditional extended skin maceration ranging from a total of 21 days (Carter Mountain) to 32 days (Hill Cab Sauv). The wine all spent 12 months in barrel being blended after the first 5 for better integration. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
While the Long Bomb would be perfectly suited to some high end specialties like Chateaubriand, we also think it should be enjoyed with some on the greatest comfort food like a perfectly delicious Rigatoni in a Bolognese Sauce and a big ol’ slab of crusty bread. Now that is a perfect Tuesday!!!
674 Cases of 12 bottles
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