#ZD ABACUS X MANUAL#
#ZD ABACUS X PLUS#

Chateau Musar tasting with Serge Hochar.The road to Haro (Rioja, Spain) - #DWCC13.Winery visit with Bodegas Gomez Cruzado (Rioja, Sp.The company is on the verge of releasing its 14th bottling of Abacus. They accomplished this goal by blending the 1992-1998 vintages of their Reserve Cab with each vintage contributing 15% of the initial Abacus bottling. The mono-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon matures but the purity of fruit of its youth yields to austerity while the blend produces the 'savory notes of tertiary development.' The ZD team had a similar view and set out to create a varietal Cabernet Sauvignon that would retain that purity of fruit through the ages. According to Benjamin Lewin MW, the mono-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon shows greater purity of fruit in its youth but is linear compared to a Bordeaux blend which exhibits a broader flavor spectrum. But, according to Lewin, it is with age that the differences between the wines really appear. The standout offering from the producer is Abacus, an attempt on the part of the winery to retain the purity of fruit that is associated with young Cabernet Sauvignon wines while also taking advantage of the benefits bestowed by maturity.

#ZD ABACUS X MANUAL#

The winery eschews pumping-over for maintenance of skin contact, opting instead for a manual punchdown of the cap using the device depicted below. In order to preserve the wine's characteristics, malolactic fermentation is not allowed. For example, the Chardonnay grapes are cold-fermented in barrels (using Champagne and Montrachet yeasts) in a long, slow process which imparts a sur lie feel to the completed wine.

#ZD ABACUS X PLUS#

Grapes for the Cabernet Sauvignon wine is sourced from 3.2 acres of sloping land around the vineyard plus purchased fruit from low-yielding, Napa hillside vineyards.Ī number of interesting processes are employed in the cellar. A 6-acre block in the northwest portion of the property has been planted to the Hanzell Pinot Noir clone and is the source for the ZD Founders Reserve wine. A 33-acre parcel was purchased in Carneros in 1996 and that vineyard is devoted primarily to the production of the Reserve Chardonnay (27 acres). Grapes for the earliest incarnation of the winery's Pinot Noir were sourced from Winery Lake Vineyard in Carneros, as were the grapes for the earliest Chardonnays. Grapes for ZD wines are sourced from a mix of owned-vineyards and purchased fruit (According to Jorge, fully 60 percent of the grapes utilized in wine production at ZD is purchased fruit.).

Zd abacus x