Estate Red 2008

WINEMAKER NOTES:

“This vintage will long be remembered as producing wines of exceptional finesse and quality. The inaugural release of FIGGINS perfectly exemplifies the brilliance of this vintage from the Walla Walla Valley. The wine has loads of bright raspberry, blueberry, red apple cider, Grand Marnier, tobacco and sage with further notes of cassis, red fruits, blackberries, currants, fruit tree flowers and a slight hint of cedar shavings. On the palate the wine has a remarkable freshness and excellent length highlighted by super fine-grained, silky tannins. Having a core of precise “just ripe fruit” the wine has power but emphasizes restraint, elegance and balance.

Vintage 2008 turned out to be a nail-biter. The season unfolded very slowly, with bud break happening ten to fourteen days later than normal. This “lateness” persisted throughout the season, with all of our major indicator milestones of approaching harvest—vine growth, bloom, verasion, etc.—happening that same two weeks late. Late harvests, where the grapes just reach maturity, are always some of our finest. The threat can be from early frost, or early fall rain. We escaped both, resulting in wines with floral aromatics and high tones. And the color is some of the most impressive I’ve seen. The backbone of the wine, with its fine-grained tannins, reminds me much of the 2005 vintage here in the Walla Walla Valley.”