Ravish Melange 2015

$145

Ravish, a Right Bank style red wine created from our California vineyards and inspired by the Pomerol wines of Château Petrus. Mélange is a French term for a mixture.

NOTE: In recent years Château Petrus has ceased blending and the wine is now 100% Merlot. We have made Ravish Mélange according to the historic composition of Petrus while our Amour Merlot is our homage to the modern day Petrus.

Aromatically complex this wine has a classic "French" nose, a little Bordeaux framed with terroir and spice, coffee, cinnamon, chocolate, plums, dark cherries, truffles, wet earth and fresh flowers - then it hits the mouth and becomes a torrent of dense fresh pleasure to ravish your senses. Great structure, built for moderate ageing and tastes great right now!
The grapes from each plot are fermented in separate five-ton, temperature-controlled, stainless steel fermentation tanks in order to preserve the identity of the terroir.

Upon completion of alcoholic fermentation, the wines are tasted before being drawn off to the fine wine tanks. The free run juice and the pomace are separated and the pomace is pressed independently in order to extract the “press wine” separately.

A second fermentation phase, called malolactic fermentation, takes place in tank before the wine is transferred into barrels.

The ageing phase commences in the cellar and takes 20 months during which the cellar master racks the wines regularly in order to clarify them naturally. No fining agents are used so the wines remain vegan.

While ageing, several tastings from each barrel are carried out. Blending takes place after the individual wines have aged in barrel for a little over twelve months and have started to show their development.

The blends are then returned to barrel for around eight months allowing them to integrate into a wine with its own unique characteristics.

All of the barrels come from French cooperages with whom we have had an association for over twenty years. Selected from two French forests, the wood is air dried and coopered over a five-year production period and finished with a special “toasting” suited to the delicate characteristics of our wines.
Only 446 cases produced. Our vineyards are farmed to the code of sustainable agriculture using traditional techniques, based on strict control of yields, manual harvests and numerous quality specific tasks that are carried out by hand throughout the year.

Little or no chemical fertilizers are used. Selection and planting of cover crops and their return to the soil provides additional organic nutrients allowing our vines to reach an advanced age and produce outstanding grapes.

Color Red
Vintage 2015
Style Red Bordeaux
Appellation Dry Creek Valley
Varietal Merlot
Date Bottled 31st Dec 1969
Drinkable 2020 - 2027
Alcohol 14.70%
Bottle Size 750ml