2017 Hardscrabble Red
Style
A come hither nose of wild raspberries, fresh herbs from the garden, and rose petals. A young wine with uncanny seamlessness. All components work in harmony: medium body, acidity, fruit and tannin structure. Finishes fine and lingering.
Food pairings
Braised meats (lamb shanks), duck breast, wild mushroom pasta.
Vineyard
Hardscrabble Vineyard is on top of the Blue Ridge at 1,200 to 1,400 feet with an eastern to southern slope. moderately shallow, well drained rocky, granite soils give depth, structure and length to the Cabernet Sauvignon while more clay based soils are dedicated to Merlot. Most of the vines are 10 to 20 years old and planted at 1,500 to 2,500 vines per acre.
Vintage
Flowering began a week early under fair skies. Fruit set was above average for most varieties. The rest of June and all of July was very dry. Shoot growth was less than normal with very little hedging needed. Young vines and less water retentive soils showed drought stress.
We needed rain, but not the 3.5 inches that fell over a few hours on August 11. Although we saw some berry swelling, the vines did not restart vegetative growth. The rest of August was uneventful allowing clusters to lose some compactness.
A forecast can sometimes become confused with reality. The beginning of harvest is best remembered by the threats of Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Jose. They were no shows, with little affect on quality. But the rains never happened. September was warm and dry setting the stage for one of the best red grape harvests in the 30 years of Linden’s history. Reds came in with balanced sugar, flavor, acid and skin tannins. The only potential downside was slightly under-ripe seeds, but we did not taste any green tannins during fermentation. 2017 reds are powerful and ripe, but have freshness rather than heaviness. These will be wines to age. Harvest was September 27 through October 4, 2017.
Winemaking
This is a selection of the best vineyard blocks at Hardscrabble. Saignée was used judiciously, usually in the 5 to 10% range for fear of over emphasizing tannins. Extractions were moderate with more focus on early timing of pump overs and later punch downs. Fermentation temperatures were kept slightly cooler than normal. Post fermentation maceration temperatures and lengths were average in length.
The wine was aged in new (70%) and slightly used French oak barrels for 22 months. Bottled August of 2019. 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 43% Merlot. 13.7% alc. Drink through 2029. 6,235 bottles produced.
Linden Vineyards / Our Wines / 2017 Vintage | 2017 Hardscrabble Red