Carhartt Vineyard Library Wines

These wines are no longer available from the winery, but for those who cellar their wines, or have recently come across a prior vintage of Carhartt wines, wine notes on earlier releases of the Merlot and Syrah are included below.

The 2004 Rosé was a bright, fresh, fun-loving wine with a beautiful rose-colored hue. The fruit aromas of strawberry and citrus are also present on the mouth, along with its subtle berry characteristics. Made from a saignée of the 2004 estate grown Syrah and Merlot, this proprietary blend is well balanced in both acidity and sweetness without losing its refreshing properties.

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The 2003 vintage saw a mild winter, average spring temperatures, and normal rainfall amounts with a consistent bud break in mid April. In late May, the temperatures rose into the 90’s, and then cooled down in early summer. In September, the temperatures again rose into the 90’s and 100’s as well as in the first two weeks of October.

Syrah 2003

The clone 6 Syrah was picked on October 21 and 23, with a 25.6 brix, 3.67 pH, .65 TA, and an average yield of 2.1 tons to the acre. Clone 877 (the “Point”) was harvested on October 23 with a 26.5 brix, 3.65 pH, .66 TA, and yielded 1.2 tons to the acre.

Given a very limited production, the Carhartt wine-making process is a low-tech, hands-on approach. This year’s fruit was hand harvested, sorted, gently de-stemmed, and returned to small open top fermenters. The grapes were cold-soaked for three to five days prior to fermentation. During fermentation, the cap was punched down three times a day combined with rack and return, allowing for maximum skin to juice contact, color extraction, and flavor concentration. After fermentation, the grapes were basket pressed and transferred to French oak barrels, of which 40% were new, and then aged for 17 months. The wine is unfiltered and unfined. The 2003 vintage was 276 cases.

The 2003 Syrah is a big, focused wine with deeply concentrated flavors. The core reveals notes of dark red and blackberry fruit, chocolate, and plum. The nose has dense red fruit aromas overlaid with meaty characteristics, earth, spice, and leather. It is a well structured wine with generous tannins and intense mouth feel. In this wine’s youth, decanting before drinking is recommended in order to fully appreciate its depth.

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Merlot 2003

The first Merlot pick was on October 29, as the weather was cooling and then again on the 30th, in anticipation of a light rain. The grapes came in at 25.0 Brix, with a 3.50 pH and .57 TA. Crop yields averaged 1.1 tons to the acre.

Given a very limited production, the Carhartt wine-making process is a low-tech, hands-on approach. This year's fruit was hand harvested, sorted, gently de-stemmed, and cold-soaked for five days prior to fermentation. During fermentation in small open-top bins, the cap was punched down three times a day. This was done in combination with rack and return, allowing for maximum skin to juice contact, color extraction, and flavor concentration. After fermentation, the grapes were basket pressed and transferred to French oak barrels, of which 50% were new, and then aged for 20 months. The wine is unfiltered and unfined. The 2003 vintage was 300 cases.

The 2003 Merlot is a luxurious wine with a black velvet color and dark spice elements in the nose. It is rich and full bodied, both plummy and plush with nice texture. On the mouth are spicy currants, black cherries, toasted barrel spice, and mocha. The wine has great structure with tannins that are equally balanced and lengthy. In its youth, decanting the wine before drinking it is recommended to fully appreciate its depth.

Click here for a printable version of these notes.

The 2002 vintage was somewhat mixed from a farming perspective – the Summer and Fall were quite warm, but a weather change in late October meant that an attentive and careful eye had to be kept on the ripening grapes. Mindful of the weather, but striving for more hang time, the Carhartt’s delayed the harvest until the last minute.

Merlot 2002

The first pick of Merlot grapes was on November 1st, with the grapes coming into the winery at 24.4 Brix, a pH of 3.52 and a beautifully balanced acid level of .50 TA. Crop yields averaged 1.2 tons per acre.

Given the Carhartt Vineyard’s very limited production, most of the winemaking process is a low-tech, hands-on approach. The 2002 fruit was hand harvested, sorted, gently de-stemmed and returned to small, open-top fermenters. The de-stemmed grapes were cold-soaked for three to five days prior to fermentation to extract color and flavor from the skins. After completing fermentation, the grape skins were basket-pressed and the new wine transferred to French oak barrels, 50% of which were new. The wine then aged in barrel for 20 months before being bottled, unfined and unfiltered. The 2002 vintage produced 300 cases.

The 2002 Merlot is an elegant wine with plush fruit and aromas of black cherry dipped in chocolate, barrel spice and hints of tobacco, with a smooth texture and a long finish.

Syrah 2002

Great weather prevailed until the harvest of the Syrah clone 5, picked on October 10th and 11th. The grapes were brought to the winery at a beautifully ripe 26.6 Brix, with a 3.7 pH and an acid level of .60 TA. Clone 5 yielded an average of 2.1 tons to the acre. The clone 877 Syrah from “The Point” was harvested just before the rains fell on November 6th and measured 25.6 Brix, 3.8 pH and .53 TA. The Point yielded 1 ton per acre.

Because of the focus on hand-crafted wine and the very limited production of Carhartt Vineyard wines, the winemaking process is a low-tech and hands-on approach. The Syrah grapes were all hand harvested, then sorted for quality, de-stemmed and placed into small open-top fermenters. Before fermentation began, the grapes were cold-soaked for three to five days. During fermentation, the cap was punched down three times each day, combined with rack and return, allowing for maximum skin to juice contact, color extraction and flavor concentration. After fermentation was complete, the grapes were basket-pressed by hand. The new wine was transferred to French oak barrels, of which 50% were new, and then aged for 20 months. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. The 2002 vintage produced 200 cases of Syrah.

The 2002 Syrah is a big earthy wine, with brooding plum and berry notes. The nose has aromas of dense red fruit with warm spice, vanilla and hints of dark chocolate. The tannins are dusty and smooth, with the characteristic flavors of white peppercorn, dark Satsuma plums, fresh earth, barrel smoke, leather and vanilla spice. The wine is crafted to be age-worthy, and while enjoyable now, is still in its youth. It is highly recommended that the wine be decanted and allowed to breathe for fifteen to twenty minutes prior to pouring.

The 2001 vintage was almost ideal, from a farming perspective. There was a cool spring and warm summer, but without any soaring heat spikes. Temperatures remained in the 80's throughout the Fall, allowing the grapes to ripen in their own time, and subsequently harvested in a relatively unstressed time frame.

Merlot, 2001

The Merlot was hand harvested on October 9th, 16th and 17th. Crop yields were low, with an average of 1.5 tons per acre. Upon delivery to the winery those mornings, each lot of Merlot was cold-soaked for three to five days prior to the onset of fermentation. During fermentation, the cap was punched down by hand two or three times daily, combined with a rack and return to extract maximum color and flavor concentration. After fermentation was complete, the grapes were basket pressed and transferred to French oak barrels, 50% of which were new. The wine then aged in barrel for twenty months. The wine is unfiltered and unfined. 250 cases were produced.

The 2001 Merlot is an elegant and refined wine with aromas of dark cherry cough drop, toasted oak, cardamom, cedar and red licorice. On the mouth, there is an underlying layer of chocolate covered cherries, barrel spice, hints of tobacco and mocha, with a long, integrated finish reminiscent of vanilla salt water taffy.

Syrah, 2001

The Syrah grape thrives in a long, extended growing season and the 2001 vintage was almost perfect from a farming perspective. A cool Spring was followed by a nice, warm Summer, but without any soaring heat spikes. More importantly for the Syrah, the Summer moved into Autumn with temperatures in the 80’s through the end of October, allowing the Syrah time for ultimate ripeness.

The 2001 Syrah was hand harvested on October 16th and 17th, and averaged a low two-ton per acre yield. This low yield resulted in concentrated flavors, which were extracted by three days of cold soaking prior to yeast inoculation. The cap of skins was hand punched down into the fermenting juice two to three times per day to extract the optimal amount of color, tannins and flavors. After fermentation, the wine was then pressed by hand in a ¾ ton basket press, and put into French oak barrels, 50% of which were new. The wine aged for twenty months prior to bottling, and is unfined and unfiltered. 250 cases were produced.

The 2001 Syrah is rich and dark, with highly concentrated berry flavors. The nose has aromas of dense blackberry, with toasted oak, spice and hints of dark chocolate. The tannins are firm, yet smooth. On the mouth, the wine delights with characteristic flavors of white peppercorn, dark Satsuma plums, fresh earth, barrel smoke, leather and vanilla spice.

Merlot, 2000

Aromas of red currants, cassis, nutmeg, cardamom, sage and cedar. On the mouth, rounded tannins with subtle toasted oak, red plums, cherry syrup, and hints of tobacco that mellow nicely on the finish. Pairs well with most foods, including pasta, risotto, grilled salmon, chicken or Southwest dishes – even tacos. Great with desserts as well, cheese and fruit plates…perhaps chocolate truffles or other decadent delights?!

Syrah, 2000

Nose with hints of briary red fruit, black plums, boysenberry pie, black and white peppercorns and spices. At times, you can pick up aromas of fresh earth and soil. Flavors include blackberries dusted with cocoa, loganberry jam, dark plums, barrel smoke, leather and spice. Bright acid pickup on the finish. Try pairing this with stout flavors such as lamb or beef stew, roast pork loin, barbecued turkey, roasted root vegetables, cheeses and fondue.