2020 Viento
Plenty of dark fruit (cherry and plum), vanilla, butterscotch, tobacco, and pepper spice notes – with a hint of roasted chili pepper thrown in “to boot.”
The "Juice" on Viento:
The first Viento was made from our 2011 vintage when we had excess juice available, likely due to the inundating rains at harvest time due to Hurricane Irene. With every harvest, we like to pull off (or "bleed") a certain percentage of the juice before fermentation starts in the tank, which allows for a better skin-to-juice ratio and ensures more concentrated wines. The extra juice is fermented and aged in oak separately for 18 months and, at blending, we'll determine what wines we can make and whether we can introduce new blends. We did not make a Crumbling Rock in 2011, but the extra juice gave us an opportunity to create new wines, one of which was the 2011 Viento, a blend that featured a majority of Cabernet Franc. The 2020 Viento is the fourth release of this wine, which is 87% Cabernet Franc this time around. If you like Cabernet Franc, this wine is for you!