Growing Conditions
Pristine vineyard on a well drained knoll above the rest of Lahoma Vineyards. Manicured, weeded, and hedged in the postcard tradition that grower Harlan Fulkerson takes pride in. All work that was done by hand for fruit thinning was performed by the winemaking team exclusively to ensure that the highest quality fruit was left hanging prior to harvest.
Harvest
The early winter months of 2018 were marked by relatively mild temperatures. The overall growing season was warmer than average, but the most notable aspect of the vintage was the intense amount of humidity in the region. Higher amounts of rainfall coupled with warm temperatures resulted in more than double the 70* dewpoint days than in previous years. Maintaining timely sprays and leaf thinning to increase air flow allowed for fruit to remain intact through the high disease pressure vintage.
Winemaking
Three day active cold soak on skins prior to pressing, with moderate SO2 added for protection against oxidation during the maceration process. Normal pressing followed without any press fractioning and the juice was cold settled for 72 hours, with bentonite added for heat stability, before racking. Juice bottoms after racking were filtered with diatomaceous earth and returned.