Stonestreet Legacy Meritage Red 1998

Individual lots of wine speak for themselves, but the annual enigma is what they will say to each other once blended. Each year, Legacy's final blend is a revelation: in most vintages the estate Cabernet Sauvignon is the star; in other years it's the Merlot.

Our 12th vintage of Legacy came from nine carefully selected lots of wine from our estate vineyards in the eastern mountains enclosing southern Alexander Valley. Individual barrels of the selected lots were chosen for their depth, complexity and concentration of dark fruit flavors, for their rich, fine, supple tannins, and for their opulent, mouth-filling texture.

The wine was aged in small, thin-staved, French oak barrels from coopers in Bordeaux. Regular racking helped in the natural clarification of the wine. As the lots for this vintage were selected with an emphasis on the quality and suppleness of their tannin structure, the blend needed only a slight egg white fining before being bottled unfiltered.

This aromatic wine, rich in spicy flavors reminiscent of cedar, cassis and dark chocolate with hints of smoky toastiness, is packed with concentrated black fruit flavors, and is soft and supple on the palate.