Winter 2012 Club

Dear Friends of Sunfire Winery

Michelle & I are really excited to introduce you to the Sunfire Uncorked wine club’s third wine release. This release is comprised of two bottles of a very special wine.

The 2008 Cuvee One Six is the first release in Sunfire’s new Distinction series of wines. 24 cases were bottled. It’s composed of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Tempranillo and 7% Alicante Bouchet and was exclusively aged in French oak.

Our Calaveras county vineyard is mostly planted to clone 337 Cabernet, clone 4 Cabernet and Ribera clone Tempranillo. One six refers to Block 16 of the vineyard. Located along the western slope at about 2700 foot elevation, the clone 337 Cabernet vines butt up against the Tempranillo plantings. The soil in this particular location has more granite gravel and has better soil drainage than any other part of the vineyard. Thus, the Cabernet ripens faster on block 16 than elsewhere in the vineyard- its actually fully ripe at the same time as the Tempranillo. However, since there are only a couple rows of it I usually wait until the rest of the Cabernet ripens about 3 weeks later to pick it. In 2008 I decided to experiment- rather than waiting to harvest this particular fruit I went ahead and picked it at the same time as the Tempranillo. In a nod to old world Bordeaux winemaking, I co-fermented it along with a some Tempranillo to create what is known as a field blend and then aged it separately. Most got blended back into the rest of the Cabernet harvest later but I kept a 2 barrels of the field blend out of curiosity. By the following spring I already wished that I had set aside more. Even when young, the wine had a more intriguing nose than anything else in the cellar. It also had an amazing finish. The palate was exciting and complex– brooding even– but it lacked a bit in the mid palate. Not flavor so much as texture. Enter a grape unfamiliar to nearly everyone: Alicante Bouchet AKA the forgotten grape. At one time it was widely planted throughout California but was mostly gone by the late 1980s. It has the mouthfeel of a Syrah with the intensity of Petite Sirah. I started using this as a topping wine for these two barrels. Over the next 2 years it eventually added up to 7% of the blend and it rounded out the palate beautifully.

Our 2008 Cuvee One Six is a full bodied and intensely focused wine. It showcases a very ripe bouquet of just picked red and black cherries, loads of minerality, pain grille and toffee notes with hints of pipe tobacco. The palate is weighty with creamy red and dark berry flavors that are sweetened by vanillins and enlivened by pepper and spice on the long ripe finish. I strongly recommend decanting to get the full effect. Ready to drink now the wine will easily cellar into the next decade.

Remember, as a club member, you get exclusive member discount pricing on wine reorders and access to our library wines as well.

We hope you enjoy the wines as much as we have enjoyed making them for you.

Warmest regards,

Stew & Michelle