Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

Winegrowing Information
The weather during the 2002 season included a fairly dry spring except for a few days of light rain in May. The months of June, July and August were characterized by increasingly warm days with a number of brief heat spikes that increased the pace of ripening and compressed the harvest. Grapes matured early, yet evenly, and were harvested earlier than previous years. Dry, warm weather coupled with normally cool nights allowed the grapes to fully mature with a complexity of rich, ripe flavors. Grapes were hand picked in the cool, early morning hours over the course of two weeks in late September and proceeding into mid-October. We selected only the most premium, top quality fruit in the vineyard. At the winery, another selection process took place where only intact, full berries were crushed and de-stemmed into small open top fermentation tanks. With our philosphy of minimal handling, all pumpovers and punch-downs were done very gently by hand. Once the wine completed fermentation, it was racked into 60-gallon French oak barrels where it completed malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged for 22 months in medium-plus to heavy toast oak barrels sourced from a selection of French coopers. This Kamen Cabernet Sauvignon was bottled in June,2004.

Winemaker Tasting Notes
Winemaker Mark Herold comments,"Aromas of sweet blackberries, dark cherries and plums leap out of the glass and are interlaced with notes of violets, cinnamon, nutmeg and coca dust.The mouth has a beautiful rounded entry and intense concentration of fruit with a recurrence of dense dark fruits suggested in the aroma-blackberries, ripe cassis and dark plum. Ripe, silky tannins seamlessly support the stucture rendering an elegant, complex wine. This wine is very lively and vibrant on the palate, with ripe full flavors and a distinctly long and lingering finish, a true expression of the estate vineyard from which it is grown.

Grape Source
100% estate grown Cabernet at elevations from 800 to 1100 feet
Kamen Estate Vineyards
Sonoma Valley

Production and Technical Data

Alcohol:	14.6%
Production:	1352 cases
Release Date:	September 2005