2006 3 Blind Moose California Cabernet Sauvignon
Tasting Notes
Deep brick (not to be confused with Deep Purple) color; dense (not to be
confused with stupid); ripe berry and plum aromas with teasing hints of
coffee and spice (Eggnog Latte, anyone?); and a smooth mouthfeel of rich
fruit flavors finishing with unmoosetakable finesse. What more could you
ask for (other than World Peace and Global Cooling)?
Vintage 2006
The 2006 growing season was very, very cool and very, very late – much like
George Clooney attending a media session. Fortunately, Cabernet Sauvignon
grapes are very thick-skinned fellows, so they just waited it out, raised their
limbs and, by George, were finally picked, by which time they were very, very ripe.
Vineyards
Our grapes came mainly from the Lodi and Central Coast regions – sort of
like Bruce Willis marrying Keira Knightley, but it works! The Lodi fruit provides
the muscle and wry humor while the Central Coast grapes are lithe, lively,
and lovely, minus the British accent. We picked them both in mid-to-late
September when their distinctive personalities were at their peak and let
them macerate for a while to see what sort of love child would bloom at
the intersection of Moosewood and Vine.
Winemaking
We night-harvested the grapes (for freshness and secrecy), then crushed them
into stainless steel tanks and inoculated the juice with a highly cultured yeast
strain that once worked for the New Yorker. During fermentation, things got
a little warm, so the moose pumped the juice over the grape skins several
times daily to extract as much good stuff as possible (color, stock tips, etc.)
Once fermentation ended, we gently transported the new wine into French
and American oak barrels, where it slowly evolved into a higher life form
destined to be sucked up by corkscrew-toting creatures from Planet Earth.
Technical Info
Harvest Dates:
All September, all the time
Average Brix at Harvest:
24.5º (Not a bad Body Mass Index)
Fermentation:
On the skins, baby!
Aging:
In once-again-cordial French
and American oak
Alcohol:
13.5%
Total Acid:
0.63 (Almost 2/3 of a whole acid!)
pH:
3.6 (We still don’t know what this means.)