The Federalist Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon, Lodi

Description

The Federalist Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon is a red wine made from grapes sourced from the Lodi AVA of California. It is aged for 6 months in Bourbon barrels. The Federalist Cabernet Sauvignon intertwines bold fruit with rich, toasted vanilla and spice notes with a smoky caramel finish.

The Federalist was established in 1981 by three friends: John Grace, Mark Rafanelli and Philip Staley who joined forces and purchased the site that was to become the Alderbrook Winery in Healdsburg, California (since closed). Eventually, in 2000, Terlato Wines purchased a majority share. Terlato invested in both vineyard sources and winery to provide the winemaking team the best grapes and equipment available.  This has helped position the winery to produce single vineyard and estate wines with a focus on Zinfandel. The vineyards are located in Sonoma County, California, approximately 80 miles north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Zinfandel is the primary focus of the vineyards with 65% of its production dedicated to this varietal, but they also produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay too.

The grapes for the The Federalist Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon are mainly Cabernet Sauvignon with a little Carignan and Merlot. Different blocks were fermented separately to preserve ideal characteristics of each. Each block spends an average of 12 days on the skins. Aged 7 months in American oak and for a second 6 months in charred ex-Bourbon barrels.

Bourbon barrel aged wines are a relatively new style of wine and have become increasingly popular in recent years. The wines tend to be bold and complex with dark fruit flavours characteristic of Cabernet Sauvignon complemented by notes of vanilla, caramel, spice, and smoke from the Bourbon cask. The wines also tend to have a slightly sweeter taste than traditionally barrel-aged  Cabernet Sauvignon due to the residual sugars that can be extracted from the charred oak barrels.

“These barrels weren’t made for tea parties.”