Robléon Roussanne 2009

McGinley Vineyard
Santa Ynez Valley

$32/750ml bottle

The Wine
An excellent example of the variety, this wine offers a beautifully forward nose of lemon cream and honey, leading to a range of tropical fruit flavors blended with honey, almond and spice on the palate.  The texture is rich and full and the finish exceptionally long, evincing a balance that speaks to age-ability.  Broad enough on the palate to blend with flavorful foods, yet elegant enough to be enjoyed on its own, this is a beautiful wine.

The Vintage and Vineyards
Located in the Happy Canyon area of the Santa Ynez Valley, The McGinley Vineyard enjoys somewhat warmer days than the rest of the valley while still being subject to cool marine temperatures each evening.  These wide temperature swings are ideal for the roussanne planted here, allowing for full development of flavors while preserving the varieties natural acidity.  Aggressive efforts in the vineyard to insure proper fruit set, manage the canopy and drop excess crop before veraison generally result in yields of 2 – 2.5 tons per acre, and typically, clusters and berries are small, increasing concentration of flavors. The 2009 growing season began cold, (15 frost events!) which severely stunted the vines ability to set fruit. It wasn’t until late June that we were out of the woods, and with aggressive vineyard management and a warm July we were able to attain ripeness.  The fruit finally came in just before Halloween, and what fruit there was looked great. Overall, the vintage offered greater concentration than normal and excellent balance of fruit and acidity.

In The Winery
The fruit was gently de-stemmed, crushed and inoculated with Côtes du Rhône yeast in order to promote a slow, cool fermentation in neutral, French oak barrels.  It took a full month for the wine to go fully dry, and once there, it was chilled before pressing and returned to neutral oak for 8 months ageing.  The finished wine was bottled on August 11, 2010.

Technical Data
Vineyards: McGinley Vineyard (Happy Canyon)
Harvest: October 29, 2009
Cooperage: 100% French Oak (neutral)
pH: 3.60
Alcohol: 14.5%
Production: 75 cases