2012 Tranquility
| Vintage: | 2012 |
| Wine Type: | Red Wine |
| Varietal Composition: | |
| 66% | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| 34% | Tannat |
| Harvest Date: | October 3-25, 2012 |
| Sugar: | 24.2 avg brix |
| Acid: | 5.21 g/l |
| PH: | 3.55 |
| Aging: | Virginia Oak - 18 months |
| Barrel Aging: | |
| 18 months | |
| 100% | New Virginia Oak |
| Ageability: | 2018-2024 |
| Fermentation: | Stainless Steel |
| Bottling Date: | June 16, 2014 |
| Residual Sugar: | 0 |
| Alcohol %: | 13.8 |
This medium ruby colored wine has all the tell-tales characters of Tranquility. The nose is intense with wild berry, blackberry, bay leaf, moist earth and licorice. The palate while youthful and restrained has great density and beautiful fruit under the powerful but ripe tannins. This is a wine to lay down for a few years.
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 Cabernet and Tannat have gained the most attention in the last 5 years, being sold to wineries that have produced award winning wines from them, thus putting them in high demand. In 2005 Ben Renshaw took over the management of the vineyard and has maintained it ever since. Now Tranquility Vineyard is being leased entirely by Tarara Winery with Ben still managing. Harvest Conditions: 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 Tranquility Red is a selection of the barrels that most represent this great site. The wine is aged in exclusively New Virginia Oak after fermentation on indigenous yeast. The grapes were all cold soaked for up to 6-8 days for good color, tannin and flavor extraction from the skins prior to the presence of alcohol. The fermentations were fairly quick and warm having their peak temperatures range anywhere from 71-84 degrees Fahrenheit. The total time the wine spent on the skins ranged from about 18 (Tannat) days to 32 days. The wines elevage in barrel was 18 months and bottled unfined but lightly filtered
Simple and fine foods are the way to go. Grab a beautiful Rack of Lamb, get a nice Rosemary and Dijon rub on there and grill to medium rare. Serve over some scalloped potatoes and you have yourself a fine meal.
390 cases