2009 Lineage - No Turning Back!

Yesterday, we actually put the 2009 Lineage blend together...and there's no turning back. Thankfully, I love this wine. It is a big departure from the first two vintages in terms of percentages of variety, but this is the kind of blend that suits the Ghielmetti Estate Vineyard and my own sense of what this wine can evolve into.

Lineage will always be a work in progress: our only goal is to make one of the best red wines in the world...and Mother Nature dictates much of what we have to work with in any given year.

In 2009, we had the best vintage of Merlot from the GEV that we've ever had (2010 is also great). The wine is rich, plush, gorgeously black-cherry in aroma and flavor with spectacular finishing tannin. Not surprisingly, it makes up a much larger portion of the blend than it did in the first two releases. The 2009 wine is:

• 63% Cabernet Sauvignon (Clone 30)
• 27% Merlot
• 5% Malbec
• 3% Petit Verdot
• 2% Cabernet Franc

Clone 30 Cabernet is the back-bone of this wine, as it has been since the first wine, and - again - 2009 is spectacular. In fact four of nine barrels are part of the Lineage blend and the other five make up our 2009 Premier Cabernet Selection release.

As it rests now, back in barrel, the 2009 Lineage (there will be just about 150 cases produced) promises to move the quality line another step forward. For more information about becoming a Lineage Collector and insuring yourself an allocation, click here.