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2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
95 Points by Wine Enthusiast Magazine
"Grown in the flatlands and benches of Alexander Valley, this Cab tastes more like a high mountain wine, with its fine tannins and flavor intensity. It's quite fine, showing intense blackberry, cherry, black currant, plum, cocoa and violet flavors that are tingled with soft, dry herbs. Very beautiful now for sheer charm, it will develop bottle complexities over the next decade. The best Cabernet from HANNA in memory." - Steve Heimoff
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| $52.00 per bottle |
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Hanna's 2005 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was grown on Red Ranch in Alexander Valley. Below Hoot Owl Creek this benchland ranch is planted on Clough Series gravelly loam soil. Above Hoot Owl it is planted on Laughlin Series Sandy Loam. These are soils of two foot depth and less. The vineyard is planted to 45 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 24 acres of Merlot. There is a 49 plant test plot of Malbec. The Cabernet is planted to clone 7, 2 and 6. Merlot is planted to clone 3. Vine age varies in our 2005 vintage from 4 to 15 years.
The vintage was a challenging one. Abundant spring rains resulted in luxuriant growth requiring extra passes for canopy management. Bloom weather was good and we set a large crop. This, and a very cool summer and fall punctuated by a few very hot days, portended a late harvest. We thinned the crop aggressively, taking the Cabernet and Merlot down to 3.16 and 3.75 tons per acre respectively. The reduced burden on the vines was important, as we still needed to wait until November 1 to achieve peak flavor in some blocks.
Winemaking: Grapes were sorted, destemmed and partially crushed, then cold soaked for five days. A combination of pumpover and Delestage were used to extract flavor and color. Pressing was done "to taste", based on daily tastings of the wines after pumpover. The newly pressed wines were racked to tank and allowed to settle before barreling. The wine was racked 3 times in its first year and once in its second year. Ageing was in 59 gallon barrels from St Martin, Saury, Taransaud and Canton.
Reserve Status: We regularly taste through our lots of Cabernet and Merlot. Exceptional lots and barrels are designated as potential blending components for our Reserve wines. Criteria are intensity of fruit, complexity, suppleness, color and potential for longevity. In 2005 this included perennial favorite block 21 as well as newcomers. After blending our Flagship Cab we assembled the Reserve and returned it to barrel to marry for 5 months. It was bottled without filtration.
Robust, rich, extracted supple with a fine lingering finish. An enticing aroma of cassis, sage, raspberry and vanilla.
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