2020 Airfield Red Blend
* Pick-up orders for this wine may require up to 10 business days for processing. Please reach out to the tasting room in advance to confirm order readiness.
Tasting Notes
The 2020 Red Wine, a delightful and easy drinking Bordeaux Blend displays dark fruit aromas of blackberry, Black currants, blueberry compote with interwoven notes of cola and dark chocolate. The palate shows the wines subtle tannins that are balanced with secondary flavors of smoked dates, Bing Cherry, and sweet espresso. The wine has a long-lasting finish with savory toasted oak notes that lingers on the palate.
Vineyard Designation
100% Estate Grown
Vintage Notes
The 2020 vintage will go down as a very memorable year. The growing season was exceptional with a mild winter, warm spring, and moderate summer. Bud break occurred 2 weeks earlier than normal and veraison was well ahead of schedule too. Just as we were preparing for an early start to harvest, wildfires in the Northwest created a thick cloud of smoke over Washington State. Concerns arose about exposure to smoke. Taking a cautious approach, we delayed harvest until the smoke cleared and conducted trials to determine the effect of smoke on our grapes. Fortunately, results showed no sign of smoke taint. Proximity to the source of smoke plays a big factor, and our vineyard was a long distance away. Overall, we have not seen any impact of smoke on the 2020 vintage. An- other major event of this vintage was an early frost that occurred the second week of October. Our winemaking team worked tirelessly long hours leading up to the frost. By the time our vineyards had been impacted by the cold spell, our winery was stuffed with fermenting grapes and harvest was 95% complete. All remaining grapes were then hand-harvested and sorted with an optical sorter to remove any excessive M.O.G. or bad grapes. After our wines completed alcoholic fermentation, we were very pleased with the results. We at Airfield have another stunning vintage for you to enjoy. The 2020 wines showcase an abundance of ripe fruit aromatics, low tannin profiles, and exceptionally balanced finishes.
Winemaking Notes
Sourced from our Estate Vineyard located in the Yakima Valley AVA, each Varietal of this Red Blend was harvested at various times from mid to late October at Optimal Maturity and sent to various size stainless steel fermenters. The extraction approach was different for each varietal with the overall goal being to create a wine that is expressive of its varietal characteristics. After each varietal was finished with fermentation, the wines were sent to various French oak coopers and inoculated for Malo-Lactic fermentation. During this time, each barrel had its lees stirred twice a month for 3 months. This pro- cess gives the wine a rounder mouthfeel while naturally softening the wine. After 10 months of aging, the final blend was constructed and aged together as a final blend for an additional eight months. Aged in 100% French Oak for 16 months with 25% being New French Oak, 25% 2yr old French Oak and 50% Neutral French Oak. The goal of this blend is to have each varietal play an important part in the wine, creating complex flavors that constantly evolve with balanced oak notes and a velvet like mouthfeel.
Food Pairing
Grilled steak
Hamburgers
Pizza
Aged Gouda or Danish Blue
- Varietal Composition: 60% Cab Sauv, 25% Merlot, 12% Cab Franc, 3% Petit Verdot
- Appellation: Yakima Valley
- Aging / Barrel Program: Aged in 100% French Oak for 16 months with 25% being New French Oak, 25% 2yr old French Oak and 50% Neutral French Oak.
- Cases Produced: 730 cases
- Alcohol: 14.2%
- pH: 3.70
- Acidity: 6.0
- Ageability: Enjoy now through 2030 with Optimal Maturity in 2026.