Mourvèdre

Paso Robles saw a fourth consecutive year of low winter rainfall in 2015. The dry conditions experienced locally mirrored the extreme climatic trends witnessed across the entire state of California. Budbreak at this particular vineyard site was the first week of April, which is a week or two later than the majority of our ranches in Paso Robles. Good growing conditions in April brought rapid shoot growth but were followed by an unusually cold period in early May that slowed development prior to bloom. We make two passes as we harvest this block. In the first pass, one to two weeks prior to the main harvest, we remove and declassify any clusters affected by sunburn or low color development. This allows the vine to focus on bringing the remaining fruit to luxury class ripeness for the Gesture Mourvèdre.