2008 Petit Verdot
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Dry Creek Valley
[ $36
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Dark, ripe, purple in color, Ferrari-Carano’s 2008 Petit Verdot from Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley entices with intense, concentrated aromas of dark fruit, currant, blackberry, and cocoa notes. Vibrant, upfront berry flavors, a rich middle palate and lively acidity lead to an energetic finish with lingering sweet oak notes, vanilla, butterscotch and mocha. Full-bodied tannins round out this delicious wine.
Vintage Notes
We began 2008 with a dry winter, battling heavy frost in April, followed by drought, wind and heat in the summer and fall. Our Dry Creek Valley vineyard ripened early and was brought in just after a heat spike that occurred over Labor Day weekend. A cooling trend meant a moderate fall, and we brought in Petit Verdot grapes from Alexander Valley on October 2, one of the last vineyards harvested. Reduced yields but intensely flavored, well-balanced, ripe fruit was the happy result of a very challenging growing season.
Winemakers Notes
Upon entering the winery, the hand-harvested grapes are destemmed, hand sorted and then small, whole berries are fermented in tank. The wine is moved to barrels for malolactic fermentation, racked to soften the tannins and allow the aromatics to evolve, and barrel aged in wine caves for 14 months.
| Appellation: |
Dry Creek Valley |
| Blend: |
100% Petit Verdot |
| Cooperage: |
30% new French oak,
70% older Hungarian and French oak |
| Release Day: |
September 2010 |
