2014 First and Mercer Grenache
Tasting notes
Grenache as it should be: feral and uninhibited. Intense bouquet of rose water, wild thyme and rosemary, and Christmas spices. Bing cherry, red fruit, kirsch, and roasted meat. Vivid and lengthy finish makes this hard to resist. Unabashedly feminine. Drinking well now but should age well up to ten years from release.
The fruit was harvested by hand in mid-October. Approximately half of the fruit was destemmed and used for whole berry fermentation; the other half was left intact for whole cluster fermentation. A five-day cold soak was used. Punch-downs were completed three times per day by hand with a rack-and-return performed every other day during the peak of fermentation. No saignee was used. Only yeast hulls and oxygen were added to the wine during fermentation. The wine stayed on skins for twenty-five days before being pressed. Pressed wine and free-run wine were kept separate throughout the wine’s life until final blending.
The wine was aged for seventeen months in all neutral French oak. The wine was never racked and left to stay on lees for its entire life cycle. A considerable amount of effort was made to expose the wine to as little oxygen as possible. The wine was bottled by hand, unfiltered and unfined in late March 2016. 98 cases produced.
| Download Wine Notes |
| Varietal Composition | 85% Monette's Vineyard Grenache and 15% River Rock Vineyard Syrah |
| Appellation | Walla Walla Valley |
| Acid | 6.4 g/L |
| PH | 3.59 |
| Alcohol | 15.60% |
| Volume | 750 ml |
Lovingly developed and cared for by Monette and Mark Hoffmeister, this vineyard is located on the east side of the Walla Walla River in Milton-Freewater, Oregon. Like the rest of “the Rocks” which experiences hot days and cool nights, the soil is very cobbly Freewater loam with excellent drainage. These growing conditions are ideal for Rhone varietals that create wines with a very distinct sense of place. We consider ourselves very lucky Monette and Mark let us work with their fruit.
