Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon / 45% Tempranillo
2006 Reserva assemblage was barrel-selected and aged until bottling after 36 months from harvest. It is then aged in bottle for a minimum of 60 months prior to release, totaling a minimum of 8 Years of aging from the time of harvest.
Vineyards:
Rancho Chimiles Vineyard – This virgin vineyard site was cleared and planted especially for the Parador project, from cuttings and plants originating from the Ribera del Duero and Rioja. – The vineyard is planted at an elevation of 1000 feet and on a slope filled with sandstone rock. When observed by Alejandro Fernandez he remarked the site ‘looks like that which one would find in Spain’.
Hossfeld Vineyard – Steep, terraced planting on eastern Napa Valley hillside bowl in Soda Canyon. Historically late-ripening vineyard with extremely low yields (7.92 tons on 3 acres). Typically higher pH mountain fruit; deeply colored, with faint mountain-thistle and dark berry character.
Harvest Dates: 09/28/04 (Tempranillo) - 11/04/04 (Cabernet Sauvignon)
Bottling Date: 08/21/09
Mixed oak program:
ü Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo undergo m/l fermentation in mostly small, tight-grain French cooperage.
ü Puncheon Barrels (a few new, mostly older) are also utilized for balanced oak integration and increased liquid volumes for extended barrel aging.
Blend is assembled upon completion of m/l.