All fruit was sourced from our own vineyard – located within the coolest, westernmost reaches of the Casablanca Valley. A blend of11 to 16 year old vines sourced from hillside blocks with northern exposure, planted on 110 million year old decomposed granite with thin topsoil of red, iron-rich clay. Cropped at an average of 3 tons per hectare (1.2 tons per acre). The season was characterized by cool, sunny weather. Rains at the start of April made the harvest difficult, but a severe selection of grapes yielded a tiny crop of perfectly healthy fruit. Harvest was carried out by hand between 21 and 25 of April 2016. On arrival at the winery, all grapes were first subjected to a whole cluster selection. This was followed by destemming (without crushing) and then an individual berry selection before being gravity fed to small open-top tanks. A 3 day cold soak (at 8ºC/ 46ºF) ensued after which time the must was warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts and fermented during two weeks with temperatures peaking at 32ºC/90ºF. During fermentation, the vats were hand-plunged twice daily in order to extract the ideal amount of tannin and color. Following the completion of fermentation, the must was subjected to an additional 5 days of post fermentation maceration (to give a total of three weeks of skin contact). The newly fermented wine was then drained and the pomace pressed using a traditional basket press. Aging occurred in second (50%) and third use (50%), high toast French oak barrels for 11 months during which time it was racked twice: first in the spring following harvest (upon the completion of malolactic fermentation) and then once again in autumn of 2017. The wine was left in a stainless steel tank, where it was aged for an additional 9 months and clarified using natural egg whites. Bottling occurred on 9 and 10 May 2018.