2008 Gist Ranch Estate Malbec

2008 was a fascinating and high quality vintage. We harvested fruit in hurried spurts, punctuated by relative calm- interval harvesting if you will! There were effectively three harvest phases, all with fairly unique weather surrounding each period. Quality was good to great with the later harvested fruit being some of the best we have seen in recent memory; featuring great character and balance.

Our Malbec is a full-bodied, black fruited beauty of a wine. With notes of black fruit, spice and earth this is a serious mountain Malbec. Hints of dried flowers and herbs add complexity, but this wine is really about bold, rich and delicious fruit and spice. The tannins are present but balanced, making this wine very drinkable today, especially with grilled red meat! Only 74 cases produced.
We harvested just under a ton of Malbec on October 6 from Gist Ranch, a very early harvest for
this late ripening variety. A short 4 day cold soak preceded a 16 day fermentation, with 2 punch-
downs a day. At cap-fall the must was gently pressed to 33% new French-Oak where it rested for
22 months with yearly racking. Bottled un-fined and un-filtered.
Our first Malbec hails from our mountainous Gist Ranch Estate Vineyard high in the Santa Cruz
Mountains. Located about 14.5 miles south-east of the Fogarty winery. The vineyard features
steep slopes perched at well over 2000 ft. of elevation. The rocky soils are low in nutrients and
well-drained. The sites low-vigor rootstocks combined with tighter spacing to accentuate the
characteristics of our mountain climate. At 2200 feet, this is the highest new plantings of Malbec
in the Santa Cruz Mountains.