2020 Silas Cabernet Sauvignon

The vines on the crown of our best hillside vineyard are stressed, causing the vines to put every ounce of their energy into ripening the grapes, producing small berries bursting with rich, concentrated flavor. We marked off these vines to be handpicked early in the morning while temperatures were cool. The whole clusters were delivered to the winery in small bins. The fruit was carefully hand sorted, gently destemmed from the rachis (stems), and then moved to stainless steel tanks for fermentation. After 4 days of cold soaking, we initiated fermentation. During fermentation, the tank was pumped over twice per day, meaning juice was taken from the bottom of the tank and gently sprayed over the top, to keep the cap moist and ensure optimal extraction. Once primary fermentation was completed, the new wine was drained and pressed from its skins and pumped to a fresh tank. After the wine had settled in tank, the new wine was pumped off its sediment to barrels and secondary fermentation began. Malolactic fermentation was completed in barrel which helped soften the wine. Aged on light sur lie, in 68% new French oak barrels for 24 months, the resulting wine was racked from barrels to tanks for the final blend assemblage before bottling.