The Experience
Aroma - ripe red currant and cherry, spicy with hints of black olive, mushroom, chocolate, toast, and vanilla.

Palate - Spicy fruit, rich, viscous and powerful with ripe cherry & plum flavors, round, ripe tannins lingering on the finish.

The Vineyards
The Gardner Vineyard is a small, immaculately farmed, 3 acre merlot vineyard on El Centro Avenue just north of Napa in the Big Ranch Road area. It is owned by James "Bud" and Doris Gardner who work closely with Vine Cliff Winery to produce grapes of exceptional quality. The grapes are merlot clones 3 and 5 grafted onto 5C rootstock. In certain years when all the elements of "terroir" come together in synergy, the vineyard can produce outstanding quality grapes and wine. In such years as was the case in 2000, the wine is bottled separately under the "Gardner Vineyard" label.

The Winemaking
The grapes are hand picked, hand sorting, gently destemmed and fermented in small stainless steel fermenters. When the color and flavor has been fully extracted from the grapes and the tannins are rich and supple, the wine is drained from the fermentation tank and gravity fed into new and one year old chateau style French oak barrels for aging.

Wine Facts
Harvest Dates: September 18, 2000
Growing Region: Carneros, Napa Valley
Vineyard: Napa, Big Ranch Road
Crushing Regime: Destemmed only
Pre-fermentation Treatment: 72-hour cold soak
Fermentation: Native Yeast
Maceration: 16 Days
Barrel Composition: 46% New French Oak
Time in Barrels: 18 months
Filtration/Fining: None/None
Blend Composition: 100% Merlot
Cases Produced: 300 Cases
Bottling Date: April 15, 2002

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