Vintage Notes
From our valley floor and mountainside vineyards, our vineyards for our SIENA are farmed in shallow, rocky, low-vigor soil that adds impressive depth and concentration of flavor intensity to the wine. A year of fire and ice, we began 2008 battling heavy frost in April, fires in the summer, and heat in the early fall. Reduced yields but intensely flavored, well-balanced, ripe fruit was the happy result of a very challenging growing season. Sangiovese and Malbec grapes were harvested beginning the week after Labor Day and completed by the third week of September.

Winemakers Notes
This wine is primarily Sangiovese blended with Malbec. Grapes were hand-harvested, and upon entering the winery, hand-sorted and then gravity fed directly into tanks for five days of cold soaking. The wines were fermented on the skins for about 10 days until pressing, then individual lots were moved to barrels for malolactic fermentation. After fermentation was complete, the wines were blended and aged in new Hungarian puncheons and older French oak barrels in wine caves until bottling in December, 2009.

Rhonda's Recipe and Pairing Notes

SIENA pairs perfectly with savory Italian food, pasta with flavorful tomato sauces, or pizza. SIENA is also delicious with dishes such as Chicken Cacciatore, a duck salad with fruit like raspberries and oranges, or prosciutto on crostini.