Description
VINTAGE
The 2022 growing season in Napa Valley and Sonoma County was nearly ideal. There were some continuing effects of the ongoing drought, but most viticulturists were able to deftly manage their irrigation regimes to adapt. At the beginning of September there was a record-breaking heat wave, some Napa Valley locations experienced temperatures over 115 degrees Fahrenheit for nearly a week. This extreme heat sped up ripening in most varieties and led to an early and compact harvest.
VITICULTURE
Our Black Stallion Estate Winery Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is made using grapes grown in vineyards throughout Napa Valley. A significant portion of the grapes are from the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley, our home AVA, which is known to give Cabernet richness and depth of flavor without overwhelming tannins. Significant percentages of the blend also come from vineyards located in Pope Valley and Rutherford which help to give the blend roundness and softness.
WINEMAKING
The grapes for this wine are harvested at night or in the early morning hours to ensure optimum quality when received at the winery. The grapes are destemmed prior to transferring to the fermentation tank, where the grapes ferment over the course of 2 – 3 weeks. The wine is routinely pumped over during fermentation to fully extract all the wonderful color, flavor and tannin from the grapes. When fermentation is finished, the resulting wine is drained from the tank, the skins are gently pressed to capture all the wine, and the young wine is pumped to barrels to start maturing. Malolactic fermentation finishes within a few months of the wine going to barrel, and the wine continues to age for the planned 18 months of maturation time. The barrels are racked twice during this aging time, which helps to clarify the wine. The wine lots are finally blended a few weeks before bottling.
