Cardinale Red Meritage 2005

At Cardinale we christened this the vintage of "Alice's Rabbit," in that everything was very late. Already looking at a later harvest because of this phenomenon we enjoyed several months of mild temperatures and slow, steady flavor accumulation, without many of the heat spikes we have become accustomed to in Napa Valley. Thus as fall started to make its appearance with even cooler temperatures and shorter days our concerns increased because we hadn't yet reached our full flavor potential. Thankfully we were blessed with an Indian summer at just the right moment that helped drive these flavors to the Cardinale standard of quality.