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The Results Are In!
April 3, 2014Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun this past weekend for our 4th annual Still Waters Vineyards Roll Out the Barrels. This year we split the day up and had two days of wine tasting and more than 110 guests. We loved having so much help tasting through the wines. With over 30 barrels of 2010 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, there was A LOT of wines to taste! It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.
Over 30 barrels to taste!
This year we are looking at the results a little more in-depth. Not only will these results help us decide which barrels to use for our reserve wines, we are also using the findings to help determine which barrel manufacturer, toasts, and profiles are the best compliment to our wines and your palettes.
Here are the trends we found this year at our tasting.
Barrels: Barrel Cooperage is a craft and each manufacturer has a different style. What tight grain and medium toast means to one cooper may not mean the same to the next cooper. This is why we purchase barrels from different manufacturers. The Cabernet Sauvignon is a great example of how certain barrels did better than others. With 24 barrels of Cabernet to taste and majority of them being in the Tonnelliere Barrels, the World Cooperage medium plus toast and profile 80 were in the top three. This makes a big statement to Paul and most likely we will use more Profile 80 from World Cooperage in our Cabernet barrel program.
Pick Date: Pick date in the Cabernet Sauvignon didn’t seem to make much of a difference in tasting preference. This is most likely due to the fact that the 2010 growing season was long and steady without spikes in weather during harvest which would cause a large variation in brix (sugar content).
Barrel Year: Other than the landslide win for the Neutral American Oak Barrel of Merlot, the New French oak was preferred over the older barrels. It isn’t surprising that the Neutral Oak would stand out after tasting 30 new oak barrels, the 2004 barrel tasted more fruity and easier on the palette.
Here is a list of the barrels you tasted and what wines the barrels will be used for when bottled. If you see a trend we didn’t pick up on, please let us know.
|
|
Pick Date |
Barrel Number |
Barrel Manufacturer |
Profile/Toast |
# first place votes |
total votes 1st, 2nd or 3rd |
will be bottled as |
|
Cab Sauv |
25-Oct |
2010-F32 |
Dubreuil |
Mt |
1 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
|
Cab Sauv |
3-Nov |
2010-F18 |
World Cooperage |
Med +, Profile 11 |
1 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
|
Cab Sauv |
25-Oct |
2008-F15 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
medium |
1 |
4 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
14-Oct |
2008-F21 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
Med + |
2 |
4 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
16-Nov |
2010-F43 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
CH Med+ |
1 |
5 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
3-Nov |
2008-F8 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
medium |
1 |
5 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
23-Oct |
2010-F31 |
Dubreuil |
Mt |
2 |
5 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
16-Nov |
2010-F7 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
medium |
3 |
5 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
25-Oct |
2008-F16 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
medium |
2 |
6 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
14-Oct |
2008-F34 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
Med + |
3 |
7 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
3-Nov |
2008-F7 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
medium |
0 |
8 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
23-Oct |
2010-F45 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
CH Med+ |
3 |
8 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
23-Oct |
2010-F46 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
CH Med+ |
6 |
8 |
Clone 3 Cuvee 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
14-Oct |
2010 -F54 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
CH Med+ |
3 |
9 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
3-Nov |
2009-F5 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
Med + |
3 |
9 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
16-Nov |
2010-F8 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
medium |
5 |
9 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
29-Oct |
2010-F38 |
Dubreuil |
Mt |
6 |
9 |
Reflections 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
29-Oct |
2010-F48 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
Med + |
4 |
10 |
Hillside Cab Sauv 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
14-Oct |
2010-F53 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
CH Med+ |
3 |
11 |
Reflections 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
3-Nov |
2010-F20 |
World Cooperage |
Med +, Profile 11 |
3 |
11 |
Reflections 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
3-Nov |
2009-F6 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
Med + |
3 |
13 |
Reflections 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
3-Nov |
2010-F19 |
World Cooperage |
Med +, Profile 80 |
2 |
16 |
Barrel Select Cab 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
25-Oct |
2010-F22 |
World Cooperage |
Med +, Profile 80 |
6 |
18 |
Barrel Select Cab 2010 |
|
Cab Sauv |
16-Nov |
2010-F44 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
CH Med+ |
9 |
22 |
Barrel Select Cab 2010 |
|
|
Pick Date |
Barrel Number |
Barrel Manufacturer |
Profile/Toast |
# first place votes |
total votes 1st, 2nd or 3rd |
will be bottled as |
|
Merlot |
29-Oct |
2008-F19 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
medium |
3 |
11 |
Merlot 2010 |
|
Merlot |
11-Nov |
2007-F3 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
Med + |
5 |
15 |
Merlot 2010 |
|
Merlot |
6-Nov |
2010-F25 |
World Cooperage |
Med +, Profile 58 |
7 |
15 |
Merlot 2010 |
|
Merlot |
27-Oct |
2010-F30 |
Dubreuil |
Mt |
7 |
20 |
Clone 3 Cuvee 2010 |
|
Merlot |
27-Oct |
2010-F29 |
Dubreuil |
Mt |
4 |
21 |
Merlot 2010 |
|
Merlot |
24-Nov |
2009-F26 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
Med + |
4 |
21 |
Merlot 2010 |
|
Merlot |
6-Nov |
2010-F21 |
World Cooperage |
Med +, Profile 58 |
7 |
21 |
Reflections 2010 |
|
Merlot |
24-Nov |
2010-F11 |
Tonnellerie du Val deLoire |
medium |
11 |
21 |
Clone 3 Cuvee 2010 |
|
Merlot |
6-Nov |
2004-MC-A1 |
Mendocino Cooperage |
Med + |
17 |
25 |
Clone 3 Cuvee 2010 |
We hope you enjoyed tasting with us and feel free to ask for another sample next time you’re here.
Cheers!
