2019 Cuvee Louie Bordeaux Blend

The Vineyard

The Pedregal Vineyard is located in the Paicines appellation, the seventh oldest in California, southeast of the Hollister area. Here, warm and breezy days are followed by cool evenings and foggy mornings leading to an extended growing season for ripe and concentrated fruit. The mountainside vineyard’s gravelly, porous soils along with the Region I type climate make for ideal conditions for an elegant expression of Bordeaux varietals.

The Vintage

Benefitting from warm temperatures and a long growing season, the Pedregal Vineyard produced a moderate crop of very high quality fruit in 2019. The dry winter was followed by moderate temperatures and a final burst of heat in September and October that helped finish ripening. The additional hang time yielded small, intensely flavored berries.

Winemaking

Hand harvested fruit was immediately de-stemmed into small open top fermenters to maximize skin contact for flavor and color extraction. After the completion of primary fermentation, the young wine was barreled into a combination of French and American oaks for complexity and intensity of fruit concentration. The wine was aged for 18 months before bottling.

Tasting Notes

The Cuvee Louie is the inaugural wine to celebrate the patriarch of the Manzoni Clan: Louie Manzoni.

Aromas of dark berry and fruit lift lazily out of the glass followed by hard spices and well-heeled vanilla and hints of oak. They are intense and rich with real visceral weight to the experience. Rarely are the Bordeaux varietals so giving in the nose. The palate is no less joy with flavors of blueberry, darkest cherry and bright plum combining with lively acidity to provide for an intensely focused mouth-full of flavor. The complexities brought on by the combining of all five Bordeaux varietals, the cinq cepage, has both a mesmerizing and invigorating effect. Enjoy with the richest of steaks, a fine roasted joint of lamb and all of your favorite soft cheeses and roasted nuts.