Our Current Releases:

2007 Bennett Valley Chardonnay - 2007 was an exceptional vintage for Chardonnay in Bennett Valley. The growing season was long and cool, with smaller crops than usual, which resulted in fruit with good concentration and great balance. As a result of this concentration, we felt the wine could handle a little more new French oak than prior vintages. Whereas we usually use about 25%-35% new oak, we used 43% new barrels in 2007. To better integrate the oak, the barrels were stirred several times a week during the later part of the primary fermentation; then once a week during malolactic fermentation; then every two weeks after malo was finished. This resulted in a winemaker with very tired arms but also in a wine with great texture coupled with nice balance and good acidity. The wine was bottled early this year and is showing well now, but will age nicely for several years.

2006 Bennett Valley Merlot (86% Bennett Valley Merlot, 14% Napa Cabernet) - This wine exhibits great density and gobs of cherry and plum flavors, yet has a silky texture and long finish. The Merlot grapes for this wine came from our vineyard and another Bennett Valley vineyard that produces very high quality fruit. The fruit from the two vineyards worked seamlessly together. The Cabernet component of the wine came from a steeply sloped vineyard block of what was formerly known as the Priest Ranch in Napa. This is an exciting wine that demonstrates Merlot grown in the right places can really rock!

2006 Bennett Valley Zinfandel - This wine shows great Zin ripeness without the raisiny/pruney characteristic that can show up when you pick Zin at full maturity. We mange this because we take great care to crop the vines appropriately, which tends to minimize the number of raisins in the clusters. Further, when we destem the grapes we run the machine at a speed that kicks out most of the raisin with the stems. These practices help create a wine displaying nice balance coupled with ripe fruit flavors of red raspberry, cherry and plum, with moderate alcohol levels. If you have liked other Frostwatch Zins, rest assured this one will definitely float your boat.