2014 Ambyth Estate Counoise Grenache Noir Paso Robles
2014 Ambyth Estate Counoise Grenache Noir Paso Robles This 2014 wine is vibrant bright and pulsing with fruit. Picked as a field blend. Foot stomped whole cluster in open top fermentation bins. Fermented on skins 14 days through primary. Bright garnet/light ruby color with delicious bright red fruits of red cherry, plum with briar and spice notes. Loaded with youthful red fruits of redcurrant, pomegranate, red plum with beautiful smooth acidity, lots of spice, cinnamon and soft tannins. Pressed and aged 20 months in (2) 225 Liter neutral oak barrels . Racked during descending moon and then bottled the following descending moon. In bottle 4 years before release.
Ambyth Estate
There was never a grand plan at AmByth Estate, beyond trying to understand our land and treat it the best way we could for future generations (thus the name AmByth, meaning “forever” in Welsh). The land was purchased in 2 parcels, in 2000 and 2001. In 2003 Biodynamic preparations started to be added to our land in homeopathic quantities, setting the scene for the Earth to function in as healthy a way as possible. Vines and olive trees in the lower vineyard were planted in 2003 and the upper vineyards in 2005. Each vine had 5 gallons of water from a drip bucket prior to a winter season and that is all the water that was provided to establish themselves, the rest came from rainfall. The first decent year for harvest was in 2010, 2011 would have been a good year but a late frost destroyed half the crop. Then we were hit with 5 years of drought with extremely minimum rainfall followed by 2 years of near average. The vines have survived and now are producing what we believe to be the best quality juice for wine in the region. We are stewards of the land, doing the best we can. Learning from others and mostly ourselves with what we are given.