AmericanWinery.com

AmericanWinery.com is pleased to provide you with Winery-Direct information.

Winemaker’s Tasting Notes:
The backbone of the ezio comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon gives this wine a core of dark-berry fruit, cocoa and black olives. in addition, the addition of Merlot adds a red-fruit characteristics, coffee and black pepper. in smaller amounts that define the edges of the ezio flavors, Malbec and Cabernet Franc lend hints of earth and mint, respectively. Finally, the new French oak deftly binds this blend with hints of sweet vanilla bean, toast, nutmeg and cinnamon. These flavors, harmoniously assimilated, should continue to develop with age, or if decanted for an hour or two.

Vintage Notes:
Our Bordeaux vineyard blocks, ranging in elevation from 600 to 1,200 feet above sea level, are twenty-seven miles inland from the cool Pacific Ocean. With several types of soil profiles, most of which have considerable limestone deposits, the varietals exhibit great terroir character of Paicines (pie-Cee-ness), an older yet up-and-coming appellation east of Monterey. With climate much like Sonoma’s Alexander Valley of Napa Valley’s Stags leap district, the grapes ripen in long, warm, sunny days but cool down each afternoon with the westerly coastal breezes and fog.

Fermentation Notes:
hand-harvested at yields of 3 1⁄2 tons per acre, the grapes are sorted and de-stemmed and fermented separately. after primary fermentation has concluded, the young Bordeaux wines are barreled into French oak where they undergo malolactic fermentation. Once primary and secondary fermentations are complete, the ezio blend is assembled. This process gathers winemaking and ownership together and sampling the best possible percentages of each Bordeaux variety. Once a final blend is determined, the blend is re-barreled to rest in French oak for twenty to twenty-four months, depending on the vintage. The 2006 ezio is unfined and unfiltered, resulting in a complex Bordeaux blend that will drink vibrantly while young and elegantly with age.