1994 Mourvedre- Contra Costa County Cline Cellars
1994 Mourvedre
Contra Costa County

Technical Notes
1994 Mourvedre- Contra Costa County
HARVEST DATE: 23 and 26 August
BRIX AT HARVEST: 24.5
TOTAL ACIDITY: 0.62 g/100ml
FINAL pH: 3.45
RESIDUAL SUGAR: 0.025g/100ml
ALCOHOL: 14.0%


VINTAGES NOTES
1994 was a textbook vintage for California's Contra Costa County AVA. A long growning season and no sudden spikes in temperature translated into wines of stunning complexity, with excellent natural acidity and a supple, intricate tannin structure. Contra Costa is typically among the first AVA in California to harvest. In 1994, extended hangtime before harvest added an extra sense of structural grace and physiological maturity to the always mighty Contra Costa fruit character. Cline Cellars is sure that its 1994's will be remembered as some of California's greatest Rhone-style wines ever.
VINEYARDS
Cline Cellars' Mourvedre is the uncompromising result of stringent selection in both vineyards and winery. Comprised of a blend of our very oldest and lowest yielding vineyards blocks--including our famed Big Break, Bridgehead and Small Berry vineyards--the 1994 Mourvedre exhibits the sort of varietal richness that can only come from 65 year plus old vines. Sandy soils, warm daytime temperatures and a unique cooling band of marine air that flows up the Sacramento River valley during the nightime hours combine to produce ultra-rich black fruit flavors and aromas, well-balanced tannin and acid structure and a special gout de terrior that, here, at the winery we characterize as dusty berries and anise. Yields are restricted to a minuscule 1 to 1.5 tons per acre, producing wines of uncommon intensity and power.
FERMENTATION AND AGING
Cline's Mourvedre is intended to be the most complex and elegant of varietal wines. To achieve this end, grapes are entirely destemmed, crushed and fermented at moderate temperatures to extract a full bandwidth of Mourvedre flavors and aromas. Press wine is added back to the free-run juice after, approximately, a 10 day cuvaison, imparting upon the wine added power and concentration. Special lots and individual barrels that show special promise are held back to form the core of our Contra Costa Mourvedre program. Final blending occurs after 14 to 16 months in a combination of new and used American and French small oak--approximately 23% new.
WINEMAKER'S COMMENTS
Cline Cellars' 1994 Mourvedre is a deeply-colored, highly-extracted wine that reflects the Oakley terrior in its jammy black fruit and dark cherry flavors, unique tobacco and eucalyptus aromas and pronounced coffee, earth and anise notes. Here, at the winery, we feel that the 1994 Mourvedre is one of the finest wines we have made. Enjoyable upon release, this wine should age gracefully well into the next millennium.

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