2006 Riverwoods Reserve Cabernet

The group met on Sunday June 8th to bottle our Reserve Cabernet. We had a 26G barrel of 06 Williamson Cabernet and a 22G barrel of 06 Wood River Clone 6 Cabernet--both of which had 18 months of barrel age. We also had some gallons of Malbec and Petit Verdot held back from last year to blend.

 

The first order of business was to determine the blends.  Should we keep them 100% Cabernet, or blend in some of the Malbec and Petit Verdot we held back. Last fall when we bottled we all liked about 4% Malbec and 1% Petite Verdot--so that was our starting point. We did 3 blends. One of the things we were trying to ascertain was to see if we liked the Petit Verdot, given how overwhelming it was in the 06 Magnafique at 2%.

 

THE TRIAL BLENDS

1. 95% Cab, 4% Malbec, 1% Petit Verdot

2. 95% Cab, 5% Malbec

3. 100% Cab

 

We made up carafes of the different blends for both the Williamson and the Wood River Clone 6 Cabernet and began tasting them.  The wines were all very different. The Petit Verdot definitely added to the finish of the wine, and the Malbec added red fruit. The Williamson cab was more dry and the Wood River cab had more dark fruit.  All the blends were good, but we needed to vote on which we wanted to bottle.  To our surprise, we had a split vote on which was more popular.  In general, half liked #1 blend and half liked #3, no blend.  What to do?

 

The suggestion was made to blend both the Cabernets together. We took and combined the "leftover" wine from several carafes and proceeded to taste. This time it was unanimous that everyone liked the blended cabs better! The only question was, what blend did we end up with???  We figured that in the combined blend we probably reduced the petit verdot and malbec percentages by 25%-50% and given the amounts of cabernet and malbec we had available, here is the blend we got.

 

55% Williamson Clone 2 Cabernet
42% Wood River Clone 6 Cabernet
2.5% Malbec
0.5% Petit Verdot

 

And thus the 2006 Riverwoods Reserve Cabernet was born!

 

Mike coordinated getting 23 cases of bottles washed the previous day so we had all the clean bottles we needed and in a few hours we each walked home proudly carrying 4+ cases of Riverwoods Reserve Cabernet. Yum Yum!  It certainly *deserves* some bottle time--but who knows if it will see any! ;)   In the interim, an hour of decanting will help bring out the flavors.

 

Next week we will rack wines to clarify them and then put them into the cooler for their summer nap.  As we rack we need to rotate barrels to balance the volumes, and adjust some for flavors. Here is the proposed racking and barrels. Note: We need to verify which barrel of Merllot (#1 or #2) we want to manage speratly. The below list is keeping #1 out.

 

 

1. Malbec

Keep in Lee's 30G French barrel. We'll have several gallons left for topping.

 

2. Syrah

Keep in Troy's 15G Hungarian. We'll have just enough to rack and top.

 

3. Idaho Cab

Combine the 15G American & 15G French into Troy's 26G American. That will give us enough for topping.

 

4. Merlot #2 + Merlot #1/2

Combine the 30G of Merlot#2 and the 22G of Merlot 1/2 that is in Stainless and Carboys. Put them back into a 30G Hungarian plus Bob's 15G American (that had ID cab in it).

 

5. Merlot #1

Keep separate, as it's the better clone. Keep in the current Hungarian 30G barrel. We'll have to top-up with Merlot 1/2, though.

 

6. WA Clone 6 Cab

Move from the new French 20G Recoop as it's getting a strong toast flavor. Move it into Lee's 15G older French (neutral) barrel, plus carboys for topping.

 

That leaves the following barrels empty:

- Ray's 22G French

- Bob's 20G French

- Lee's 8G American (currently empty, and sulfured)

- Lee's 60G French (currently empty, and sulfured)

 

After racking, we will need to clean both Ray's 22G French and Bob's 20G French w/ Oxy-clean, dry them for a couple days and then burn a sulfur wick in them. We also need to burn another sulfur wick in Lee's 60G French and his 8G French.