At first nose, you know immediately you are holding something special.  This wine hits you with big, bold, rich black cherry, plum, black currant and black licorice while showing hints of brie and tobacco.  The palate confirms with unparalleled mouth coating flavors of brambleberry, cocoa nibs, fennel and hints of leather.  Finishes up just how it started, big, bold and rich elegance with lingering pomegranate, brambleberry, vanilla and beautifully integrated tannins.

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WINEMAKING TECHNIQUES

2016 was a harvest that brought beautiful fruit into the winery. Fermented in small jacketed stainless-steel tanks, pumpers were performed twice a day and 3 times during the peak of fermentation. Fermentation lasted 20 days. By controlling the temperature, we were able to extract plenty of color from this fruit and increase our time of juice on skins by a few days. This helped increase the texture of the wine, creating a wine with fruit character but enough tannins to allow it to stand up to many years of aging. This wine will only get better in the next 5-7 years. Once the wine was completely finished with fermentation, we racked it to tank to allow it to settle before putting in barrel. After that we let it sit in barrel for 12 months before bottling.

VINTAGE NOTES

The 2016 growing season began early but continued with plenty of sunshine. An even growing season followed a wet winter which replenished soils following four years of drought. Harvest was also early but similar to 2015 with exceptional fruit quality. Cooler daytime and evening temperatures contributed to complex, interesting wine. Just what you want to produce beautiful, concentrated and rich Zinfandels. 

FRUIT SOURCE: ROCKPILE VINEYARD

Rockpile is located directly northwest of Dry Creek Valley and is perched high above Lake Sonoma. The AVA is famed for a “signature clone” of Zinfandel, selected from the vineyard of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in nearby Cloverdale. At elevations ranging from 800 to 2,100 feet, Rockpile vineyards receive plentiful sunlight, with less fog due to an inversion layer created by Lake Sonoma.

THE WINERY

Bailarín Cellars was created in 2014 by a collective of family and friends, each following their respective passions and all sharing one: quality wine. Together we focus on producing small lots of handcrafted wines from unique vineyard sources. We are proud to share the fruits of our labor and love with you.