Umami • Dark Black Cherry • Chalky
Best enjoyed at 55° - 60°f
Recommended Drink Window: Now - 2027 - 2030
MC² is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon and is our flagship red blend meant for everyday consumption.
Each variety and vineyard are picked, fermented, and aged separately and combined after 10 months of ageing in barrel before bottling. In 2023, this blend was 63% sourced from east Seneca Lake and 37% sourced from west Cayuga Lake, with 51% of the blend being from our estate vineyards. With the varying topographies, soils, vineyard age, and varieties planted, the blend truly encapsulates the season from mid-September through the end of October.
Winemaking
• 46% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc
• Vineyard locations: East side of Seneca Lake, west side of Cayuga Lake
• Hand harvested from October 3rd - 25th
• 10-20% saignée day after processing
• Unfined & unfiltered
• Vegan
• Certified New York Sustainable Winegrowing
• Brix: 20.0°- 21.5° • pH: 3.56 • TA: 7.2 g/L • RS: 0.1% • ABV: 12.5% • Bottled: 6/24/2024
• Cases Produced: 850
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2023 Vintage Notes
As the harvest season approached, and all things pointed to 2023 being a lovely year. In the vineyards, our team worked tirelessly to ensure the cellar got to play with the best grapes possible come harvest time. Summer of 2023 was drastically different from the several previous seasons with a decent amount of rainfall, hot and humid days, but unusually cool nighttime temperatures. This means we were able to maintain a strict disease management protocol with timely shoot thinning and positioning, aggressive leaf thinning, and our hybrid organic/conventional spray program.
Many have asked about the frost event in late May and how we fared. In the days following the event, we were very nervous as we saw many small shoots go from green to black. After a few weeks, the vines started to push their secondary shoots and subsequent clusters, and we started to see life back in the hard-hit blocks. We feel very fortunate as we saw a fairly normal season as far as yields went, but we know some of our neighbors did not fare as well. These moments help reinforce the strength of the agricultural community and how we as consumers and neighbors can all help one another during challenging times by buying local, supporting small businesses, and always keeping a positive attitude!
