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2006 Oliver's Blend

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64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Malbec, 13% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot

Wine Specs

Vintage 2006

Varietal Bordeaux Blend

Appellation Alexander Valley

Vineyard Designation Skipstone Estate

Harvest Date Cabernet Sauvignon Oct 17 – Nov 1 Malbec Oct 21 Cabernet Franc Nov 6 Merlot Oct24, 25

Aging Aged in French Oak 22 months

Bottling Date August 2008

Alcohol % 14.9

Wine Profile

Tasting Notes Each year, Winemaker Philippe Melka focuses on the strengths of the vintage and use those wines that ﬁt best together to represent Skipstone. On the nose, this wine exhibits great freshness and focus. Bright aromas of ripe, crushed red and black berry along with ﬂoral tones ﬁll the glass. The mineral, gravel dust quality that is characteristic in Skipstone wines lends aromatic backbone and support to the fruit. Well integrated oak adds hints of toast and caramel. The wine is mouth-ﬁlling with ripe berry ﬂavor and a sweet, concentrated midpalate, carried by full, ripe tannins, and is followed by fruit and dark cocoa powder for a long, lingering ﬁnish. This wine should be very enjoyable in its youth with the structure to age for at least ten years. Neither ﬁned nor ﬁltered.

Vineyard Notes The 2006 vintage will be remembered for temperature extremes. The season started out cool delaying budbreak in the Skipstone Vineyard until mid-April. Normal weather followed allowing the grapevines to ﬂower in ideal conditions paving the way for a healthy fruit set. July was one of the hottest on record, culminating with six straight days over 100 degrees and peaking at 114˚F! As harvest approached, a strong coastal trend brought in daily fog, allowing for long hang-time giving the grapes greater complexity. By mid-October, a beautiful stretch of warmer days gave us the ﬁnal push to ripeness and it was during this period that we picked the grapes for Oliver’s Blend.

Production Notes At Skipstone, each grape lot undergoes an extensive four-step sorting process, ensuring that only perfectly ripe grapes are viniﬁed. We employ cold soak and extended maceration which extracts maximum color and body from the grape skins. After fermentation, lots are allowed to further sit on the skins, if warranted. Instead of pressing, which can yield hard tannins, we employ an overnight draining period so the wine may separate from the skins naturally. The wine is put into French oak, 75% new, speciﬁcally chosen to integrate and enhance the character of each individual lot. Malolactic fermentation occurred in barrels.

Production 350 Cases