2020 Tempranillo
Tasting Notes
Our 2020 Tempranillo is a medium bodied style of wine that is full of aromas and flavors. Instilling complex aromas of blue fruits with compelling layers of fresh fig, blueberry puree and layers of exotic spice that fill the glass. The palate is incredibly smooth with little presence of acidity, secondary flavors consisting of huckleberry, blackberry, coriander, and wet stones. The wine exits the palate with an incredibly lush and lengthy finish with a touch of toasted oak and minerality, the tannin structure is almost like silk on the palate and the finish lasts for minutes.
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. Another 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
Harvested at Optimal ripeness in late September, the grapes were destemmed but not crushed and sent through our optical sorter before being pumped into a concrete tank. Cold Soaked for 72 hours, the grapes were then warmed up and inoculated with a special yeast strain. Fermenting in concrete provided more lifted aromas to the wine, more tension on the palate and layers of complexity while maintaining perfect fermentation temperatures. Our goal with a wine of this caliber is to create a wine rich in flavor with weight and depth on the palate. Our extraction protocol was more aggressive early on with more pump overs. Then,as alcohol levels increased the length and number of pump-overs decreased. Fermented until dry on the skins, about 15 days, the juice was then separated from the skins and the skins sent to the press to gently press any remaining juice out of the skins. The press and free run were not combined. The wine was then sent to a variety of French oak barrels and inoculated for Malo-lactic fermentation. Once Malo-Lactic fermentation was completed, the wines lees were stirred twice a month for one month, this process helps create a rounder mouthfeel and finesse on the palate. Aged for approximately 18 months in French oak with 33% being new French oak and 67% being 2yr-old French oak, the wine was then removed from barrels and sent back to a concrete tank for an additional 3 weeks of concrete aging before being prepped for bottling.
Food Pairing
Greek style grilled lamb
Stuffed portobello mushrooms
Spanish style cured meats and tapas
Carne asada
- Varietal Composition: 100% Tempranillo
- Appellation: Yakima Valley
- Cases Produced: 72
- Alcohol: 14.3%
- pH: 4.05
- Acidity: 5.0 g/L
- Ageability: Enjoy now through 2030 with optimal maturity around 2026.