Wine Maker Notes The exceptional fruit from this old vineyard enables the winemaker to pull out all the stopsbut still produce a wine of great structure and fruit focus. Rued is always 100% barrelfermented, and undergoes full malolactic fermentation. A large portion of the barrels arefermented using native yeast for richness and complexity, while some are inoculated withcultured strains that showcase the floral aromatics of the clone. The blend for this wine wasbarrel selected (about 50% of the total actually made the blend) in May of 2007, blendedalong with the primary yeast lees, and then sent back to barrel until unfiltered bottling inFebruary of 2008. We loved once used Remond Allier, and Seguin Moreau Grand Cru barrelsfor this final blend as they bring out the inherent floral character of the fruit as well asimparting exotic ginger overtones. With the great structure and concentration inherent thisfruit, long barrel aging adds a wonderful combination of lushness and complexity that onlythe best of chard vineyards can provide.