2018 Fall Release
Dear Trespass Friends,
We have just finished with harvest and the 2018 vintage is happily fermenting at the winery! The vineyard is basking in the golden light of fall, its hard work completed for the year! What a wonderful growing season we have enjoyed. There were no real weather extremes, which allow the fruit to gain beautiful flavors and balance. Now we can reflect a bit and turn our attention to the release of the final wines from the 2015 vintage. We have three wines for you to add to your cellar this fall as well as two favorites from our Spring release if you would like to restock.
One question we often get is what would be the “optimum” aging for our wines to enjoy them at their peak. As you all know, we like to make our wines to be enjoyed shortly after release; however Donny would say that his personal “sweet spot” is when the wines reach six to eight years old. We have been pulling out some older vintages lately to enjoy with friends and so we can speak from experience! During the upcoming winter when activity slows a bit in the vineyard, we plan to set up a more formalized vertical tasting of our wines with our winemaker Kirk Venge, and we will happily report back to you all what our thoughts are and what wines are just singing right now!
Below are the compiled tasting notes from Kirk and Donny. They independently taste the wines and write their thoughts, which we then blend into what you see below! We just can’t get away from that blending metaphor, can we.
2015 Trespass Cabernet Sauvignon
150 cases produced
This is a beautiful expression of what a premium Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon should be! Upon opening this wine you are immediately captivated by the aromas, fresh with blackberry, boysenberry and oak spice. This deep purple wine delivers on the palate as well, bright entry with mature dark wild berry fruit. The finish is complete, with robust tannin that goes on and on. Decant and drink now, or cellar onward toward 15 to 20 years. From a low yielding vintage comes a very high quality wine, just not a lot, so grab some now!
100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 22 months in 80% new French oak.
2015 Trespass Rendezvous
125 cases produced
Massive, intense and seductive! We are very excited about this release of our 50-50 co-fermented blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. (Always Donny and Kirk’s favorite) There are layers and layers that are generous and profound with purity of black fruit and exotic expressions. The aromatics are right! Light scorched herbs, barrel toast, black cherry jam and sweet plumbs. On the palate it is explosive and fills every corner of the palate with blackberry and vanilla, soft and round, but with firm tannins. This wine keeps evolving in the glass, showing great complexity, Wow! Fermented and aged for 22 months in 100% new French oak.
2015 Trespass Old Vine Zinfandel
150 cases produced
This 115 year old vineyard is producing some of the best Zinfandel grapes in the Napa Valley! We feel lucky to have been able to consistently procure this fruit each year. This classy Zin has a focus on the “pretty” core fruit. The 50% new French oak supports and brightens seamless red fruits of wild berry, currant, dried cherry and fresh raspberry. On the palate we have plum jam with a touch of clove and Christmas spice. Not pushy in the least, this is a very nice elegant Zinfandel.
Please feel free to call us any time if you have questions on these new releases or want to inquire about large format bottles or older vintages. We try to keep a few treasures tucked away! As we rush towards the end of the year and happy gatherings ahead, we wish you all the best and many thanks for letting Trespass be a part of your world. We are so grateful you enjoy what we love creating!
We look forward to hearing from you!
Dana & Donny Gallagher
