Horse Heaven Late Harvest Chenin Blanc 2006

Winemaker's Notes:

Tasting NotesChateau Ste. Michelle is truly passionate about dessert wines and we have been making a Late Harvest Riesling for decades. This is only our second vintage making a Late Harvest wine out of Chenin Blanc grapes and we are thrilled with the results. The Late Harvest Chenin Blanc offers aromas and flavors of ripe melon and sweet lime. Think Key Lime pie in a glass! The sweet fruit flavors are wonderfully balanced by a natural refreshing acidity.-Bob Bertheau, WinemakerWinemaker's Harvest StoryThe 2006 harvest brought us unique opportunities to make a variety of sweet wines, including a Late Harvest Riesling, Late Harvest Chenin Blanc, Riesling Ice Wine, Chenin Blanc Ice Wine, as well as our prized Single Berry Select Trockenbeerenauslese style wine. With forecasts predicting below freezing temperatures for the evening of October 30th, we decided to pick our botrytis affected grapes for the Single Berry select during the day on Oct. 30th. Then we picked frozen ice wine grapes that night during the freeze and grapes for late harvest wines the next morning after the grapes had thawed. We ended up picking grapes for five different dessert wines within 24 hours!Vineyards Hand selected grape clusters were harvested from our Horse Heaven Vineyard located adjacent to the Columbia River.The vineyards Chenin Blanc vines produced very low yields of 2.5 tons per acre.The site enjoys early-morning humidity and moderate daytime temperatures in which Botrytis cinerea thrives.Select Chenin Blanc grapes were left hanging on the vine until the last week of October, to achieve the natural condition of Botrytis required for making this exceptional wine.Winemaking Botrytis infected clusters of Chenin Blanc grapes were carefully harvested on October 31st.Cool fermentation with very fruit forward yeasts were carefully monitored to preserve Chenin Blancs crisp fruit characteristics.Cool temperatures of 52 F to 54 F were maintained during the three week fermentation in stainless steel tanks to preserve the fruits intrinsically vibrant flavor profile.Technical DataAlcohol: 8.0%Total Acidity: 0.89g /100mlpH: 3.10Residual Sugar: 17.8Blend: 100% Horse Heaven Vineyard Chenin Blanc