Variety: Merlot

Vineyard: Nakai

AVA: Russian River Valley, CA

Farming: Organic, Dry Farmed

Harvest Date: 7 October 2022

Bottling Date: 15 August 2023

Alc: 13%

Cases: 100

Nakai Merlot was the very last fruit to come in for Emme in 2022.  Beautifully ripened and with a higher sugar content than any of the Ricetti fruit, the Merlot from this year made for a lovely aromatic wine with warmth and richness from its higher alcohol content.

The fruit was foot crushed in tank and left to ferment whole cluster – no destemming at all, which adds to the freshness of the final wine.  After a good 10 days on skins, the Merlot was pressed to stainless steel to finish primary fermentation.  Once sugar dry, the wine was transferred to neutral oak barrique and one neutral puncheon, and left to go through malo and age on its lees for 10 months.

In August, all the barrels of Merlot were racked to tank for bottling.  This wine has spent an additional year aging in bottle before release.

Indigenous yeast fermentation. 20 ppm SO2 added at bottling, no other additions, unfined and unfiltered.