2022 Old Stake Right Bank Blend

The Growing Season

The 2022 vintage in Lake County exhibited great fruit quality, with wines exuding vibrant, flavorful fruit characteristics.  The growing season started off with cool temperatures and a bit of rain in spring, and throughout the growing season temperatures remained cooler overall – more in line with the “normal” weather patterns of the past.  Harvest began a few weeks later than the previous few years, but then moved rapidly due to some hot days in September.  However, we picked before the heat spell, and fortunately Lake County grapes deal with heat well, due to their more resilient, high-altitude skins.  There were a few cool days around mid-September and a little rain, but fruit flavors had already developed, and many lots were harvested at slightly lower Brix levels.  Overall, crop size was larger than usual with the quality of fruit being on par with last year’s outstanding vintage

Winemaking

Our winemaker Scott Kirkpatrick was so excited about the flavor and depth of our 2022 Big Valley AVA Merlot, he decided it needed to be emphasized. So, he created a 51%/49% wine with our Kelsey Bench AVA Cabernet Sauvignon, similar to a blend you might find from the Right Bank in Bordeaux.  Picking began at night and was a combination of hand and machine harvesting, to retain freshness.  Scott employed a relatively cool fermentation to boost aromatics and enhance fruit characteristics.  We conducted ML with French and Hungarian oak to promote integration, with a specific attention on making a wine that expresses the best qualities of both grape varieties.   

The Land

Vines have been present on our Old Stake 1901 property in the Kelsey Bench AVA for over a century.  The deep red, iron-rich soils of this vineyard have long been considered ideal for Cabernet, with its 1400 ft. elevation, volcanic deposits, and cool afternoon winds. The Kelsey Bench AVA in Lake County was originally a pyroclastic flow from over ten thousand years ago and is a transition point between the volcanic Mayacamas Mountains to the west and the alluvial flood plain of the Clear Lake basin to the east. The soils in the vineyard offer mildly rocky, red volcanic elements mixed with alluvial loams. The addition of the neighboring Big Valley AVA Merlot is a perfect complement imparting a softening freshness to balance out the Cabernet Sauvignon’s high-altitude tannins. These vineyards enjoy the cooling effects of nearby Clear Lake and the mountain climate, with its 50°F diurnal temperature swings, that produce wines of excellent acidity, ideal tannin structure and bold, complex fruit flavors