YAO MING Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
TASTING NOTES
Appearance is ruby red with purple hues. A true mountain wine. Generous mountain fruit and structure, extra-long finish. The fruit has barrel notes of toast and vanilla. The palate is firm and has long tannin structure.
Fruit was rigorously hand-sorted and fully destemmed to small stainless steel tanks with light crushing. Cold soaks (5-7 days), warm fermentations between 29– 32°C (85-90°F), and moderate pumpovers twice each day. Total skin contact ranged from 19-34 days with all fermentations being carefully basket pressed and put to barrel on full fermentation lees for malolactic fermentation (ML). Racking was twice per year with only one assemblage being done to allow the blend to “marry” in barrel. Barrels for final blend were hand selected by taste. Native yeast and ML used with only small lots conducted using cultured Bordeaux isolates. Bottled without filtration.