2004
Clos Pegase Home Ranch Reserve Port
Clos Pegase
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For the 2004 vintage our favorite port variety, Petite Sirah forms the entire blend, grown at our Home Ranch on the sandy loam soils of Dunaweal Lane in Calistoga. After picking, the ripe fruit was crushed into tank and cold soaked to extract color and tannin for five days, before commencing fermentation with the vineyard indigenous yeasts. fermentation proceeded for five days before the must was drained and pressed at 12 degrees Brix. We then arrested the yeast activity by fortification with pure, pot-distilled brandy, thereby keeping a large portion of the natural grape sugar in the wine, and bringing the alcohol up to 18.5%. This fortified blend was then racked to older oak barrels and moved to our caves for aging. racking the wine off the lees was performed in January following harvest, then again in June 2005, before another 12 months of elevage and bottling in June 2006.