Our hillside Ackerman Family vineyards are located in the Coombsville district of the Napa Valley - noted as one of the cooler AVA's in the Valley - and allowing for a longer growing season. The vineyard faces easterly to the morning sun and is planted to drought resistant root stock and Cabernet Sauvignon clone 337.This combination is designed to fully reflect the unique terroir of this vineyard while yielding fruit with small berry clusters and bold, luscious flavors of spice and blackberry. The 2003 vintage is noted as a difficult farming year due primarily to one week of extreme hot weather
that was received in July - causing many farming issues in most vineyards. Irrigation, trellis, well rooted vines and row direction were the hurdles that growers faced. Our well rooted vines, planted with an east-west row direction and restricted afternoon sun, allowed our vineyard to transcend the excessive heat as designed. The harvest went smoothly with a lighter than normal crop.
Ackerman Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
Harvest took place on October 7th. We fermented the wine using native yeast with fermentation proceeding very quickly - finishing in less than a week. After14 days of maceration, with tannins building in what was already a big wine, we felt the wine achieved the right balance of structure and fruit. The wine was pressed and drained off of the skins on October 28th,a total of three weeks in tank. Malolactic fermentation was completed before year-end as the wine continued its accelerated development. The 2003 Ackerman Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon spent a total of almost 24 months in new French barrels - assuring the wine was mature and finished before bottling in September of 2005.The 2003 release enjoyed a further two years of bottle aging prior to release.
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