At the end of May 2020 amidst quarantine we had an idea and acted quickly to bring it to life. We created HEART/Artists Series 2019 White Wine to celebrate our Winery, our Community and our Earth. We wanted to create something special in the bottle and send Love and Heart out into our world. We wanted to make a new Channing Daughters wine, taking advantage of the wonderful raw materials we had in the cellar. A wine that over-delivered Deliciousness and Joy and celebrates our Winery and our Community!
After blending the first wine, we began brainstorming about the name and label and all that seemed appropriate was "Heart". The idea, the word, the image, the love, the organ, the metaphor, the abstraction. We imagined a series of labels inspired by Heart and Channing Daughters Winery. We wanted 12 different labels of Love and Heart to adorn the wine and fill the case. We wanted local artists, deeply connected to us and the winery. So, we asked a dozen stellar humans/local artists to create special artwork for this wine inspired by "Heart". We couldn't be more thrilled with what they all created and with the Joy and Beauty engendered by this collaboration with our community and friends.
The wine was received wonderfully and left us wanting to do this one more time as we always want to send more Heart out into the world. But this time we created a wine from the fruit of the 2020 vintage that we grew and harvested during our shutdown. We wanted it to be equally special and of course different so this time it is a dynamic, delicious red wine. And we were lucky enough to collaborate with a whole new crew of incredible Artists/Humans who are connected to our community and winery. Once again this has been an incredible journey to deliciousness and we are so excited to share our new 2020 Heart / Artists series Red wine with you. We hope it brings the same joy and deliciousness and love and heart into your world and your home. ❤
Our 2020 Heart / Artist series Red wine is a symphonic red blend that combines the best of five grape varieties. This is made from 48% Merlot, 22% Dornfelder, 11% Refosco, 10% Syrah and 9% Petit Verdot. You can imagine the wine as a dynamic red blend bolstered by aromatic bursts of exotic red-fruited Refosco, fleshed out by briary dark Dornfelder berries, with added verve, freshness and geometry provided by the Petit Verdot and Syrah all balanced together by plump, satisfying, enveloping ripe Merlot. This is a complex and unique red wine full of deliciousness and life. The texture is plump and beguiling with cleansing acidity, moderate alcohol and a long finish. The aromas and flavors are ripe, deep, savory, pleasure-filled and range in fruit character from red to blue to black fruit and berries. The texture is silken, giving and it can be hard to put the glass down. There is a generosity coupled with raciness in this dry red wine that is quite satisfying and keeps one coming back for more.
All the fruit was hand-harvested, de-stemmed and fermented ambiently/wild in small bins. Punched down by hand and shovel until fermentation was complete then raised in stainless steel and older/neutral oak barrels for eight months before bottling on May 21st, 2021.
