Cotes d' Oakley-Vin Rouge Wine Label Cline Cellars
1996Cotes d' Oakley
Vin Rouge
Contra Costa County

Technical Notes
1996 Cotes d' Oakley- Vin Rouge
HARVEST DATE: 8 August to 23 September
BRIX AT HARVEST: 23.8
TOTAL ACIDITY: 0.66 g/100ml
FINAL pH: 3.63
RESIDUAL SUGAR: 0.22 g/100ml
ALCOHOL: 13.5%


VINTAGES NOTES
At Cline Cellars, we will remember 1996 as an exceptionally warm and short growing season--particularly, as one that favored the Southern Rhone varietals we use to fashion our Cotes d' Oakley Vin Rouge. Late May rains reduced crop size, significantly concentrating sugars in the grapes, while consistently warm summer weather thickened skins, endowing our wines with dark, vivid colors and rich flavors. A maritime cooling influence favored our Contra Costa vineyards in 1996, maintaining good acidity and balance in the fruit. Overall, '96 will be noted for wines rich, forward fruit and supple tannins.
VINEYARDS
Cotes d' Oakley Vin Rouge is Cline Cellars' Californian version of the classic Southern Cotes du Rhone blend, incorporating the Rhone cepages 39% Carignane, 49% Mourvedre, 6% Alicante Bouschet, 2.5% Cinsault, 1% Grenache and about 2.5% Syrah. The grapes for this wine come from Our extensive holdings in Contra Costa County at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers. Sandy soils, dry-farmed vineyards, head-pruned 100+ year old vines and an unique cooling band of air that blows in nightly from San Pablo Bay combine to create an environment perfectly suited to the warm weather varietals of France's Rhone Valley. Yields are restricted to a minuscule 1.5 to 2 tons per acre, producing wines of uncommon varietal richness.
FERMENTATION AND AGING
Cotes d' Oakley Vin Rouge is intended to be Cline Cellars' earliest drinking red. Individual lots of grapes designated for the Vin Rouge program at an early stage are entirely destemmed and only lightly crushed. We aim to maintain up to 50% whole berries in the must which helps emphasize bright, red fruit character. In 1996 we also experimented with fully crushing certain lots of Mourvedre to add a nice backbone of tannins and vibrant color to blend. Fermentations were conducted in stainless steel at cool temperatures, employing both inoculated cultures of selected yeast strains from France's Rhone Valley and indigenous yeast fermentations. We have chose to age the wines for the 1996 Vin Rouge in 1500 and 1970 gallon French oak uprights to emphasize fresh fruit flavors and medium structure. Also, in 1996 additional aging in French cooperage for a portion of the blend lends the wine an extra dimension of spicy complexity. Just prior to bottling, we chose to add a small barrel lot of Syrah/Grenache/Cinsault that had initially been earmarked for a potential Cotes d' Oakley Reserve program. This wine has definitely added an earth, berry, and spice Chateauneuf-du-Pape character, extra body, and for the first time, a dash of toasty new oak. Early bottling in late May and April preserves fruit, fresh acidity and our Cotes d' Oakley's wonderfully supple texture.
WINEMAKER'S COMMENTS
The 1996 edition of our now classic Cotes d' Oakely Vin Rouge has been both continuation of tradition and slight departure in style for me. I use as my model the best Cotes du Rhone reds from France's warm Southern Rhone Valley yet seek to emphasize a fruit profile that is more characteristically Californian. The weather and terrain in Contra Costa seem to mimic nicely those of the Southern Rhone, providing me wit ample, rich and hearty fruit from which to fashion this blend. For the first time I had some Grenache from our famed Big Break Vineyards at my disposal. Though only a tiny portion of the blend, I feel that this classic Southern Rhone grapes adds a definite mintiness and fruity character. Grenache will, no doubt, eventually grow to become an integral part of this complex blend. With its full, ripe berry fruit, clean earthy aromas and fresh herbs de provence character, the 1996 Cotes d' Oakley Vin Rouge is a delicious wine presently and will cellars beautifully for 3 years.

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