Rosewood vineyards is an old-timer's vineyard: a field blend of two varieties, Petite Sirah and Mourvèdre, which were planted decades ago. The Petite Sirah is further divided into two lots; one from vines planted almost eighty years ago and a second lot from vines half that old. In late October 2005, Troy and Tia, the owners of Rosewood, graciously picked the Petite Sirah as two separate lots for Navarro so that we could compare the old and older vines. Harvesting was further complicated by leaving the Mourvèdre on the vine for an additional week so that we could pick it at a proper ripeness for a separate wine. The two Petite pickings were de-stemmed, then fermented in open top bins as separate lots which the cellar crew punched-down by hand to keep the tannins supple.
Troy Satterwhite teaches his son how to prune the block with vines that are close to 80 years old.
Troy and Tia in the "old block". The vineyard was planted in two varieties, a common practice in early goblet trained vineyards. They've marked the vines and harvest the Petite Sirah separately for Navarro.
The two Petite lots finished fermentation and were aged in French barrels. In July 2006 Navarro's tasting panel evaluated them and decided that the wine from the eighty year old vines was more deeply flavored than the wine from the middle-aged vines. The wine from the younger vines was blended into our Navarrouge but this richer old-vine lot was racked into clean French oak barrels and then allowed to rest another year in our cellars before bottling in August 2007. Declassifying one lot means Navarro has only half the Petite to sell but its lingering flavors are bottled proof of an old vine's power to produce wine of character. Silver Medal winner..
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Troy Satterwhite teaches his son how to prune the block with vines that are close to 80 years old.
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Troy and Tia in the "old block". The vineyard was planted in two varieties, a common practice in early goblet trained vineyards. They've marked the vines and harvest the Petite Sirah separately for Navarro.