French Oak Barrels – The Inspiration
Introducing Castello di Amorosa’s newest Cabernet family addition, Trenta—a wine aged for 30 months in French Oak barrels. Grown in the best vineyards in Napa Valley, this powerful blend was aged 1 year longer than any other Castello Cabernet. This extended aging deeply integrates the oak to complement the intense black fruit profile of the wine, elevating the aroma, flavor, and texture.
The brainchild of winemaker Peter Velleno, Trenta carefully illustrates the close relationship between the wine & barrel. The 30 months provides this Cabernet blend with depths not normally seen with 18-month barrel cycles. Our winemakers chose to experiment with 30 months in French Oak barrels, which provide 1 extra year in barrels.
30 Months Aging in French Oak Barrels
Barrel aging is the step between fermentation and bottling, which matures the wine and gives it distinct flavors. Barrel aging begins after five to eight days in fermentation tanks. The juice is pressed from the skins and seeds and pumped into French Oak barrels for aging in our extensive underground cave and cellar system. This process normally takes between 6 to 18 months (shorter times for white wine, longer for red wine). Ultimately, wine is aged in barrels for flavor development, maturity, and longevity after bottling. The oxygen that slowly comes through the oak barrel helps the wine mature, and tannins develop the structure of wine over time.
Only the highest quality barrels with tight oak grains and medium-plus toast levels are used. With our Trenta wine, we always use 100% new oak. The medium toast and new oak help to retain the wine’s natural elegance and balance. The toasting level of a barrel is created by exposing the wood to flames, thus creating a char within the wood. The more that wood is exposed to the flame, the more charred the wood becomes. This greatly affects the flavors imparted to the wine. Barrel production is science as well as art.
French Oak barrels have long been preferred by us because of their subtle ability to compliment the wine without overpowering the natural flavor profiles of the fruit. When examining French oak, we find the highest tannin of the oak types. Logs sourced from the Office National des Forêts make for more expensive timber. This results in a more expensive barrel that is appreciated by winemakers for its unique flavor characteristics. We are sure that Trenta will provide all these great characteristics of high-quality French oak barrels.
Wine Profile
Trenta is made from a blend of the Castello’s top high-end Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards from the best growing regions of Napa Valley. The majority of the fruit is sourced from the Rutherford AVA, Coombsville AVA and Yountville AVA. All famed regions for producing beautifully structured complex Cabernet Sauvignon. Trenta is the only Cabernet blend that features Melanson and Don Thomas fruit, two extremely limited single vineyard wines.
Every year the blend used to make Trenta is unique. Each year before bottling, we select a few Cabernets to incorporate into a new blend that we think will improve even further with another year in barrels.
Limited Production
Each bottle of wine is 750 ml, so for each gallon of wine you have, you will be producing five bottles. If you have a large 60-gallon barrel, it holds approximately 300 bottles of wine. Meaning that we only made a few barrels worth of this wine, making it one of our most limited productions.
A wine unlike any other with luscious, velvety soft tannins and intense black cherry and currant flavors. Dense and complex with toasted oak notes that carry these fruit forward flavors throughout the finish, this well aged wine is beautifully presented now, but can easily age for years to come. The barrel also provides soft finishing touches which showcase the Cabernets deep flavor. The additional time in the barrel provides the Cabernet with rich depth and deeper complex flavors of Caramel, Light Smoke & Hazelnut.
Our 2018 Trenta is for sale now, made is extremely limited number. We are proud to present Trenta: a wine symbolic of our winemaking team, a crowning achievement.
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