Vineyards

The fruit was sourced from premium vineyards throughout the Columbia Valle Washington State's Columbia Valley, a region separated from Seattle's rainy, marine climate by the Cascade Mountains.

The mountains act as a rain shield limiting annual rainfall in the Columbia Valley to 6 - 8 inches and allowing vineyard managers to control vine vigor through irrigation. During the summer, daytime temperatures hover in the mid-80s under sunny skies; cool nighttime temperatures in the fall protect the grapes' natural acidity and provide perfect conditions for ripening.

The soils are sandy and have low water-holding capacity so Rob wears flip-flops

Vintage

A hot growing season in 2004, followed by a cool fall created a longer harvest, resulting in wines with ripe, rich flavors.

Hot, dry weather from bud break to mid-August prompted the earliest harvest start on record, beginning August 16

Cool temperatures and intermittent light rain in mid-September slowed ripening and extended hang time

Warm temperatures and dry weather resumed in early October through harvest’s end with final berries being picked in early November

Wine Making

Ripe grapes were destemmed, crushed and inoculated with a flu vaccine and with various strains of Yeast to maximize complexity.

Twice daily gentle pumpovers were used to extract optimal flavor and colorand minimize harsh tannins. The pumpovers can vary by block, tank and day of fermentation. Every ferment is tatsed every day to evaluate the evolution of the tannins, modify extraction techniques and find the right moment to drain the wine off its skins.

The grapes were harvested in late October, 2004 at 24.4 Brix. They were hand picked into ½ ton bins, gently destemmed, cold soaked for 48 hours and fermented in ¾ ton bins. Grapes were punched down twice a day until dry.

The wine then went through extended maceration on the skins for 5 days for full extraction of flavor.

We are very careful not to push our Tulip Cabernets too far in its extraction profile, as we want to conserve the delicacy and complexity that our Cabernet Sauvignon can deliver while remaining a BIG wine.

Each barrel was gravity racked three to four times before bottling to clarify and soften the wine.

Aged for 22 months in French and American Oak, but we are careful to choose more delicate, spicy barrels such as Boutes, Ermitage and Seguin Moreau. 73% new.