2004 Moraga Red
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2004 Moraga Red Predictable weather has become hallmark of the growing season at Moraga. Both the days and the nights are mild and generally lack the extreme temperature fluctuations that sometimes wreak havoc during the harvest in other top winegrowing regions. There are, however, subtle differences that exist from vintage to vintage and the 2004 season was a prime example. Warm weather and a lack of rain in early June conspired to create perfect conditions for a rapid period of flowering and fruit set. This together with the accumulated effects of an extra degree or two of warmth each day and a little less coastal cloud cover over the length of the season created the conditions for a significantly earlier harvest. We began picking both Merlot and Cabernet on September 11th, at least a week earlier than usual. A steady pace of harvest continued until the last day on October 12th, an event that normally occurs near the end of October. The massive nose of this wine leaps from the glass. There is a consistency that follows from aroma to flavor with multi-layers of cedar, cardamom, Asian spices, cigar box and star anise Moraga’s 2004 Red Wine is jammy and voluptuous and combines dark fruit flavors of cassis and black cherry. It has a remarkably long finish. Throughout Moraga’s history, our goal has always been to put our best wine possible in the bottle, a philosophy that compels us to occasionally reject some barrels because, they simply are not quite as good as the other barrels. The 2004 Moraga red wine bottling marks a milestone because it is the first time that all of the barrels produced were excellent and all made it into the bottle. Like all of our bottlings, this wine is a pure expression of our unique terroir. We hope that you thoroughly enjoy it and appreciate the effort of many loving hands in this singular place. Tom Jones, Proprietor
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