2008 Lake County Malbec

I am really intrigued by this varietal and am surprised more domestic wineries aren't producing Malbec as a stand alone wine. The grapes from this vineyard come from the Olaf Vineyard which is located on a steep hillside on the west side of Clear Lake. I used 3 different yeasts on the fermentation and did a 10 day extended maceration on the skins to soften the tannin and to add mouthfeel.

2008 Alexander Valley Zinfandel

This is the Mariani Ranch located in northern Alexander Valley. This is a hillside vineyard that doesn't use any trellising and is "head pruned," which is a very traditional way to grow Zin. This is my second year of working with these grapes and I really like the dark fruit and pepper that this vineyard posesses. While this wine would be great as is I will probably blend a little bit of Petite Sirah into this wine before bottling to add structure, color, and complexity.