Podcast & 2004 Cab Notes

Wednesday, Nov 19th, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I was flattered to be asked to participate in a podcast interview with Sommelier Jamie Drummond of the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar in conjunction with our upcoming limited release.  I have to say that I was pretty nervous going in, but Jamie’s easygoing style and the comfortable restaurant atmosphere really put me at ease, to the point where I didn’t even realize we were being recorded.  It was truly a pleasure to discuss such a broad array of topics with someone as knowledgeable and genuinely interested as Jamie.  You can hear the podcast interview at:   http://www.jamiekennedy.ca/v1/welcome.html

2004  FIVE ROWS  CABERNET SAUVIGNON:

A wet summer gave way to a beautiful fall and great ripening conditions for the late varietals.  This Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested on November 4, 2004.   The Lowrey Cab Sauv is grown in two blocks which differ in vine age, clone, and soil profile.  The older block is a mix of clones 337, 339 and 15, while the younger block is planted solely with clone 169.  All vines are grafted onto low vigour rootstock 3309.  Approximately 10 tonnes of fruit were picked that day, at an average of 21.5 degrees brix.  Characteristically the older fruit gives the resulting wines structure and balance while the clone 169 block provides the ripe fruit notes.

The resulting fruit was processed in small batches with three daily punchdowns for maximum colour extraction.  The wine was left on the skins to macerate following fermentation to help with tannin structure. The cooperage was primarily French (75%) and mainly older barrels (only 20% new oak).  Overall time spent in barrel was 30 months.  The wine for my blend was selected following an intensive barrel selection process where I actually pulled different volumes from a variety of barrels to compose my final 2 barrel blend.  The majority of the blend (300L) came from two 2002 Gillet barrels that showcased good overall components of oak integration, aromatics and palate structure.  The other 150L came from a new 2004 Taransaud barrel that featured amazing ripeness and notes of candied cherry and raspberry.   This wine was bottled in the summer of 2007 and allowed to age gracefully in bottle for a year and a half before this release.
Cases: 45 Filtered & 2 Unfiltered
TA: 6.60g/L
pH: 3.67
Alcohol: 13.2%

’04 and ’05 Cabernet Sauvignon Tasting

Monday, Aug 25th, 2008

The bottle you see above is one of a lot of two barrels of 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, 100% sourced from Lowrey Vineyards.  It was bottled last summer following two anxious years of aging in older French oak barrels.  That lot is very special to us because it represents the first wine we will release under our yet-to-be-named winery label.

A couple of weeks ago, we bottled our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon after a similar aging period in a somewhat different barrel regimen.  The two barrels of ‘05s were initially aged in older Frenchies like the ’04s.  After an initial tasting of the ‘05s, I surmised that adding an American oak barrel to the mix after the second racking (12 months in) would help frame the slightly bigger tannins and bolder overall mouthfeel.

It was one recent evening on our annual trip to Bobcaygeon that I decided to recruit some unbiased family palates to conduct our first ever cross-vintage wine tasting.  Exciting stuff!  After nervously setting up the blind tasting, I was intrigued to watch my father skip the aromatic profile altogether, swig back the wine and conclude that “It tastes good.”  The more sophisticated family members assured me that both wines showed well and I was impressed that some were even able to recognize the subtle differences between vintages.  Thanks guys!

Look for the ‘04s sometime soon and the ‘05s early next year after some quality time in bottle.