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The Results Are In!

Posted on by Still Waters Vineyards

Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun this past weekend for our 4th annual Still Waters Vineyards Roll Out the Barrels. This year we split the day up and had two days of wine tasting and more than 110 guests. We loved having so much help tasting through the wines. With over 30 barrels of 2010 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, there was A LOT of wines to taste! It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.

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Over 30 barrels to taste!

This year we are looking at the results a little more in-depth. Not only will these results help us decide which barrels to use for our reserve wines, we are also using the findings to help determine which barrel manufacturer, toasts, and profiles are the best compliment to our wines and your palettes.

Here are the trends we found this year at our tasting.

Barrels: Barrel Cooperage is a craft and each manufacturer has a different style. What tight grain and medium toast means to one cooper may not mean the same to the next cooper.  This is why we purchase barrels from different manufacturers. The Cabernet Sauvignon is a great example of how certain barrels did better than others. With 24 barrels of Cabernet to taste and majority of them being in the Tonnelliere Barrels, the World Cooperage medium plus toast and profile 80 were in the top three. This makes a big statement to Paul and most likely we will use more Profile 80 from World Cooperage in our Cabernet barrel program.

Pick Date: Pick date in the Cabernet Sauvignon didn’t seem to make much of a difference in tasting preference. This is most likely due to the fact that the 2010 growing season was long and steady without spikes in weather during harvest which would cause a large variation in brix (sugar content).

Barrel Year: Other than the landslide win for the Neutral American Oak Barrel of Merlot, the New French oak was preferred over the older barrels. It isn’t surprising that the Neutral Oak would stand out after tasting 30 new oak barrels, the 2004 barrel tasted more fruity and easier on the palette.

Here is a list of the barrels you tasted and what wines the barrels will be used for when bottled. If you see a trend we didn’t pick up on, please let us know.

 

Pick Date

Barrel Number

Barrel Manufacturer

Profile/Toast

# first place votes

total votes 1st, 2nd or 3rd

will be bottled as

Cab Sauv

25-Oct

2010-F32

Dubreuil

Mt

1

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

3-Nov

2010-F18

World Cooperage

Med +, Profile 11

1

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

25-Oct

2008-F15

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

medium

1

4

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

14-Oct

2008-F21

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

Med +

2

4

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

16-Nov

2010-F43

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

CH Med+

1

5

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

3-Nov

2008-F8

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

medium

1

5

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

23-Oct

2010-F31

Dubreuil

Mt

2

5

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

16-Nov

2010-F7

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

medium

3

5

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

25-Oct

2008-F16

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

medium

2

6

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

14-Oct

2008-F34

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

Med +

3

7

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

3-Nov

2008-F7

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

medium

0

8

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

23-Oct

2010-F45

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

CH Med+

3

8

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

23-Oct

2010-F46

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

CH Med+

6

8

Clone 3 Cuvee 2010

Cab  Sauv

14-Oct

2010 -F54

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

CH Med+

3

9

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

3-Nov

2009-F5

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

Med +

3

9

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

16-Nov

2010-F8

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

medium

5

9

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

29-Oct

2010-F38

Dubreuil

Mt

6

9

Reflections 2010

Cab Sauv

29-Oct

2010-F48

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

Med +

4

10

Hillside Cab Sauv 2010

Cab Sauv

14-Oct

2010-F53

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

CH Med+

3

11

Reflections 2010

Cab  Sauv

3-Nov

2010-F20

World Cooperage

Med +, Profile 11

3

11

Reflections 2010

Cab Sauv

3-Nov

2009-F6

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

Med +

3

13

Reflections 2010

Cab  Sauv

3-Nov

2010-F19

World Cooperage

Med +, Profile 80

2

16

Barrel Select Cab 2010

Cab Sauv

25-Oct

2010-F22

World Cooperage

Med +, Profile 80

6

18

Barrel Select Cab 2010

Cab Sauv

16-Nov

2010-F44

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

CH Med+

9

22

Barrel Select Cab 2010

 

Pick Date

Barrel Number

Barrel Manufacturer

Profile/Toast

# first place votes

total votes 1st, 2nd or 3rd

will be bottled as

Merlot

29-Oct

2008-F19

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

medium

3

11

Merlot 2010

Merlot

11-Nov

2007-F3

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

Med +

5

15

Merlot 2010

Merlot

6-Nov

2010-F25

World Cooperage

Med +, Profile 58

7

15

Merlot 2010

Merlot

27-Oct

2010-F30

Dubreuil

Mt

7

20

Clone 3 Cuvee 2010

Merlot

27-Oct

2010-F29

Dubreuil

Mt

4

21

Merlot 2010

Merlot

24-Nov

2009-F26

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

Med +

4

21

Merlot 2010

Merlot

6-Nov

2010-F21

World Cooperage

Med +, Profile 58

7

21

Reflections 2010

Merlot

24-Nov

2010-F11

Tonnellerie du Val deLoire

medium

11

21

Clone 3 Cuvee 2010

Merlot

6-Nov

2004-MC-A1

Mendocino Cooperage

Med +

17

25

Clone 3 Cuvee 2010

We hope you enjoyed tasting with us and feel free to ask for another sample next time you’re here.

Cheers!

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