This is the fourth release of Kestrel's Pure Platinum. This white table wine is a blend of Viognier and Gewürztraminer. The Viognier for the Platinum was grown and harvested mostly from Kestrel View Estate Vineyard.  However, a few tons from Outlook Vineyard, located North of Outlook in the Yakima Valley. The Gewürztraminer was grown and harvested primarily from Outlook Vineyard, with a few tons being sourced from Stone Ridge Vineyards in Mattawa. The grapes were harvested late in the season, only after they had reached full maturity.  Final sugar of both varieties neared 25 Brix.  The Viognier and Gewürztraminer were harvested simultaneously and blended as fruit in the press. The juice underwent a cool slow fermentation using with Côte de Blanc yeast. The combination of these factors helped to preserve the fine fruit and floral qualities of both varieties. The fermentation was stopped at 1.5% residual sugar. The resulting wine is a marriage of spice and floral elements.

Our sixth release of Lady In Red is non-vintage as were our first five releases. It is a blend of wines crafted predominately from the 2004 and 2005 vintages.  The fruit used to produce Lady In Red 6th Edition was grown at several outstanding locations around the Yakima Valley and Columbia Valley, including our own Kestrel View Estate Vineyard. Grapes from the chosen sites produce wines brimming with ripe black and red fruit flavors, coupled with generous amounts of velvety soft tannins.  The fruit which composes Lady In Red 6th Edition was carefully picked at the height of maturity, then de-stemmed and crushed leaving 15% whole berries. It was fermented at 85° F, in small batches, for 7 to 10 days, then gently pressed so as not to extract any harsh tannins. Forty percent was then aged in small oak barrels until bottling.

Cabernet Sauvignon is said to be the king of wines. Our 2005 selection is no exception.  These grapes are from our own Kestrel View Estate Vineyard, located six miles north of Prosser; Olsen Estate Vineyards, located between Prosser and Benton City; and Elephant Mountain Vineyards, located at the base of Elephant Mountain near Buena.  The wine then spent 22 months aging in small French, Hungarian and American oak barrels before being bottled.  Vineyard Source:  Kestrel View Estate, 14% Olsen Estate Vineyards, and 14% Elephant Mountain Vineyards

The Wine:  The color is inky crimson-purple. In the aroma and on the palate there are multiple layers of ripe black cherry, blackberry, blueberry jam, red currants, black pepper, clove, dried herbs, tobacco, earth, rose petals, red and a hint of sweet red bell pepper. The wine is full bodied, complex, and round.  The balance between tannins and fruit is excellent, and gives rise to a lingering finish that will leave you wanting another sip.  Alcohol: 13.9%  Cases produced: 1822

Forty-Seven percent of the fruit for this wine came from Kestrel View Estate Vineyard, located on the Roza, six miles North of Prosser.  Thirty-two percent of the fruit came from Olsen Estate Vineyard, block 19 at Corral Canyon, located North of Benton City.  Thirteen percent came from Elephant Mountain Vineyard located at the West end of the Yakima Valley and eight percent came from Boushey Vineyard located North of Grandview.  By blending fruit from the finest Yakima Valley vineyards, the winemaker was able to create a complex and stunning example of how fabulous the Yakima Valley can be at producing world class wines.  All our Merlot was hand harvested and carefully sorted, removing any defective fruit, leaves or stems.  It was then destemmed and crushed into fermenters, where it was punched down or pumped over twice daily to extract the optimum amount of color and flavor. After draining and pressing, the wine was aged in a mixture of 65% neutral and 35% new French, Hungarian, and American oak barrels for 22 months prior to bottling.

One hundred percent of the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon came from our Estate Vineyard, planted in 1972, making the vines some of the oldest in Washington. The Yakima Valley seems to be ideally suited for growing many varieties. This is due to long summer days that boast in excess of 16 hours of sunshine per day. Follow this with our extended autumns, providing warm days and cool nights and you have perfect conditions for producing superior Cabernet, with ripe fruit flavors and good acidities.  All the Cabernet Sauvignon was hand harvested from our Kestrel View Estate Vineyard.  It was carefully sorted, removing any defective fruit, leaves or stems. It was then destemmed and crushed into open top fermenters, where it was punched down twice daily to extract the maximum color and flavor. After the initial fermentation it was pressed to small French Oak barrels where it matured for 22 months. Prior to bottling the six finest barrels were selected from the lot and only this portion was bottled as our Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 2004 growing season was outstanding! Great fruit was harvested from most of Washington’s vineyards.  Once again the weather for growing grapes was optimal - a long hot summer and an extended Indian Sumer that lasted well into October.  Kestrel View Estate Vineyard is fortunate to have some of the oldest grape vines in the state. The Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in 1972.  When they were planted, a small number of Malbec vines were mistakenly planted amongst the Cabernet.  In the late nineties, cuttings were taken from these vines and Kestrel planted several more acres of Malbec. This wine is a marriage of 61% Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon and 39% Malbec.  Six of the finest barrels of wine from the Kestrel cellar - four barrels of Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon and two of Malbec - were selected for the 2004 vintage of Raptor Red.