2019 Founders H. Lloyd
This wine pays tribute to our great-grandfather, H. Lloyd Miller, a successful businessman and pioneer of the Yakima Valley, who founded our family farm in the early 1900’s. He is also considered the father of the Roza Irrigation Canal, which supplies water to 72,000 acres of farmland in our valley. His entrepreneurial spirit provides a great source of inspiration to our family as we strive to carry on his legacy.
Tasting Notes
Our 2019 Founders Series H. Lloyd Miller Bordeaux blend that exudes style and class in this full-bodied blend. Rich aromas of black current, black cherry cola with hints of baking spices. The palate is powerful with silky tannin structure leading into secondary flavors of toasted sandalwood and fresh pipe tobacco with an array of dark berry flavors. Sweet, toasted oak elements leaves the palate with a lingering and lush finish. Enjoy now through 2035.
Awards
2018: 93 Points by Owen Bargreen, Certified Sommelier, Formerly the Senior Editor at the International Wine Report
2018: 92 | Wine & Spirits Magazine
This tête de cuvée displays the estate’s cool-climate bona fides, with sumptuous oak to frame the savor. It leads with scents of rye grain and pine tips, cedar and black plum. The fruit achieves impressive depth, even as the savory elements fall in behind it. For braised beef. —P.J.C.
SILVER | Houston Rodeo Wine Competition
Reserve Regional Class Champion Red Bordeaux Varietals
Vineyard Designation
100% Estate Grown
Vintage Notes
The 2019 Vintage threw everything it could at us winemakers. We started off with a very mild winter, then out of nowhere we saw record snow accumulations in late February that lasted until early March. Thankfully this did not affect buds on the dormant grapes, but it did cause a delay in bud break; about 2 weeks later than normal. Delayed bud break then delays ripening overall so we did see a later than usual ripening to get to our optimal ripeness, we did see a decent amount of heat accumulation, but the 2019 vintage will go down as a cooler vintage for Washington State. Not only did we have these challenges to overcome, our typically amazing Octobers was very trying for us. We didn’t see one frost on our vines, but we saw two freezing periods that made our winemaking decisions ever more challenging. The 1st frost we saw we were happy with the results thinking we have escaped a terrible outcome in the vine- yards, then 9 days later we were hit very hard and we saw considerable frost damage to all our grapes. As we are seasoned winemakers, we took this challenge head on and decides to purchase brand new state of the art equipment including an optical sorter that would eject bad and damaged grapes before any of these grapes went into a fermenter or press. The new equipment worked as amazing for us and the results in the wines are more than pleasing for us as well. Challenging vintages like 2019 really lets you know as a winemaker what you are made of and we at Airfield Estates not only took this challenge head on, we excelled and the wines we produced from this vintage are going to be more consumer friendly with higher acidity and lower alcohols but the fruit aspect is exceptional.
Winemaking Notes
Each Varietal in our H. Lloyd Miller blends derives from our best of the best Reserve tier grape blocks from our Estate Vineyard located in the Yakima Valley. Harvested by hand at the end of October, the grapes were destemmed, but not crushed and sorted using our optical sorter before being sent to a small stainless-steel tank, all varietals were combined for a co-fermentation. Co-fermenting all four of these varietals together, each varietal marries each other from the beginning. This creates more robust fruit aromas, complex flavors while showcasing each of the varietal in the final product. Our extraction approach was to have more aggressive methods used early on, extraction methods of del-a-stag, pulse air and lengthy aerated pump overs gives the wine ample color and dark fruit aromas. Once alcohol became prevalent in the wine, we had a gentler approach to our extraction, this helps us achieve a more finesse finish on the wine. Once alcoholic fermentation was completed, the wine remained on the skins for an additional 14 days for extended maceration. Extended maceration gives the wine more intriguing aromas and complex characteristics. After this period, the wine was drained from the skins where the press was kept separate and not added back to the original wine. Sent directly to new French oak bar- rels, consisting of 90% New French Oak and 10% once used barrels, the wine then underwent Malo-lactic fermentation. During the aging process the wine had its lees stirred twice a month for four months, this process helps naturally soften the wine and creates a rounder mouthfeel. Aged for approximately 21 months in barrel before being sent to tank and prepared for bottling.
Food Pairing
Beef Bourguignon
Roasted Rack of Lamb
Pan-Seared Sirloin
- Varietal Composition: 62% Cabernet Sauvignon 23% Merlot 14% Cabernet Franc 1% Petit Verdot
- Appellation: Yakima Valley
- Cases Produced: 172
- Alcohol: 14.3%
- pH: 3.68
- Acidity: 6.1 g/L