Cline 2011 Late Harvest Mourvèdre
| Vintage: | 2011 |
| Wine Type: | Dessert Wine / Port |
| Varietal: | Mourvèdre |
| Appellation: | Contra Costa County |
| Harvest Date: | October 15 |
| Acid: | .70 g/100ml |
| PH: | 3.81 |
| Residual Sugar: | 8.284% |
| Alcohol %: | 14.5 |
The Big Break vineyard was chosen for this Late Harvest Mourvèdre. It’s planted in deep sand-soil, which is dry-farmed and benefits from the drying winds that blow through Contra Costa County. The vineyard carried a light crop of grapes that ripened and dehydrated without rotting to a high sugar content. By the time the grapes arrived at the winery, the lot was 25% raisined.
orking with ultra-ripe raisiny fruit to make this delicious wine had its challenges. The yield of concentrated grape juice was about half of what we attained from the grapes we used to make our Mourvèdre table wines. The must began to ferment after three days in the tank. We choose not to add yeast to the tank instead we allow natural yeast to do the work. This age old tradition of Fred Cline’s grandfather, is used to contribute complexity to the blend. Fermentation progressed and in a matter of three weeks the combination of alcohol and sugar caused the fermentation to draw to a close. We racked the wine to 30% new French oak barrels for 11 months allowing the fruit flavors show through without being masked by the oak.
We will bottle and release this wine only when we feel the vintage quality is extremely high. In addition to being luxuriously sweet the wine has flavors of coffee, chocolate and berries.
It is a wonderful accompaniment to rich chocolatey desserts like our Late Harvest Mourvèdre Chocolate Mousse (www.clinecellars.com/haveittonight) or Stilton cheese.
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