| Vintage: | 2008 |
| Wine Type: | Red Wine |
| Varietal: | Sangiovese |
| Appellation: | Columbia Valley |
| PH: | 3.55 |
| Tannin: | 6.8 g/l |
| Alcohol %: | 15.5 |
Tasting Notes:
The resulting wine is deep in color with aromas of red pie cherry, cherry, damp earth and complex spice. It has excellent concentration, good acidity and complex ripe fruit flavors lingering in a long finish. The overall impression is one of an intense rich wine with fine balance and round tannins. The 2008 Bonatello Riserva should continue to develop and gain complexity for the next seven to ten years. This wine is an excellent expression of Sangiovese grown in the Pacific Northwest, and is a great pairing with braised or roasted meats as well as Italian and Mediterranean foods.
Production Notes:
The fruit was harvested on October 21th, from Doebler Vineyards on the Wahluke Slope. After rigorous thinning and canopy management, the grapes were handpicked at an average 27.4 brix˚. A further vigorous pre-crush cluster sort was done reducing the already low yield. The weather for the season in Eastern Washington was excellent. The 2008 Vintage started out about two weeks later than usual and continued on as a relatively uneventful, fairly cool season not marked by high heat spikes. This allowed the the fruit to slowly ripen until the third week of October. Long hang time prior to harvest at cooler temperatures allowed the fruit to slowly develop its classic Sangiovese flavors while retaining excellent deep color and complex aromatics.
Winemaker Notes:
The fruit was completely de-stemmed, lightly crushed into small open top fermentors leaving about 75% whole berries. It was given a five day cold soak, and then inoculated with proprietary yeast. Fermentation was completed in 13 days, and then it was lightly pressed. After which it was racked and moved to a mixture of 1 to 3 year old French oak barrels for 27 months. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation in the barrel; was lightly “cross flow” filtered and bottled in March 2011.