Jordan Estate Tales - Volume 7, 2012 - 7

The artistry of blending doesn’t stop with determining which lots
of Merlot are blended in to soften Cabernet Sauvignon’s more dry
tannins—or what percentage of Petit Verdot will be added to elevate
blueberry flavors and dark color—and if the addition of that tiny lot of
Malbec will give the final blend that extra gasp of elation. Critical to
our Jordan style is the determining of our barrel “solera” for the vintage:
the percentage of old and new oak plus the ratio of French and American
oak barrels and how they will be incorporated to achieve the final wine’s
balance after a year of aging. Vintage after vintage, no formulas are
employed. We blind test around a dozen of the top barrels from different
cooperages and use a diverse array of fine-grained oak, primarily from
the Nevers, Alliers, Vosges and Tronçais forests of France, which have
an elegance that does not overpower the fruit intensity of our wine.

Unlike many other Cabernet producers, we also blend our favorite tanks
of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot together in our historic oak casks,
letting their flavors meld before the wines are transferred to small barrels
for aging.
Each summer, when the time arrives to create the final master blend of
a vintage before bottling, our winemaking team and I enjoy the sense of
both accomplishment and anticipation of a wine we will wait another
two years to uncork.
Then, I return to the vineyard to continue fine-tuning the next
vintage’s blend.

7

http://blog.jordanwinery.com/2011/03/selecting-oak-barrels-for-cabernet-sauvignon-no-recipes-no-bias/

Jordan Estate Tales - Volume 7, 2012

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