2012 Dana Estates

2012 Dana Estates Hershey Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, USA Vintage NotesAfter the challenges presented in 2009-2011, the 2012 vintage was welcomed with open arms. We had some beautiful warm days in both January and February, followed by almost 12 inches of rain in March. This pushed bud break back a couple weeks into mid and even late April for Hershey. These rains set us up for larger than normal yields and berry sizes. We left cover crops in place a bit longer to dry soil profiles, leaving extra fruit to limit berry size. The extra fruit was then dropped later to balance the vines. The summer of 2012 was very mild, with just one summer heat spike on June 16th and an Indian summer warming event on October 1st. The October warming trends can be detrimental, but in this case they were just the motivation the vines needed to achieve perfect ripeness.Harvest and AgingSeptember could not have been gentler to Hershey in 2012. The higher elevation typically presents warme