2010 Prince of Hearts

The tricky 2011 harvest required the team here to pick on 14 different occasions, from the beginning of October through the first week of November.Merlot on the valley floor was more fragile and good drainage was critical in '11, noted Claude Blankiet, adding that his cabernet sauvignon on volcanic ash soil in the upper part of his vineyard drained well.Moreover, it was mostly valley floor vineyards that faced botrytis pressure beginning at bloom.Incidentally, 2010 was the first year for which consulting winemaker Denis Malbec was responsible from start to finish.Since his start at Blankiet the estate has done a stricter selection of fruit going into their two top bottlings.Although the base blends for the estate's top two bottlings are made very early, they are finished very late and barrels can be declassified at any time.

This estate in the western hills of Yountville, above Dominus, has benefitted from the string of recent cooler years. But there have also been significant steps taken to ensure phenolic ripeness before potential alcohol levels get too high and acidity too low. According to winemaker Denis Malbec, the team leaves a fuller canopy to slow down ripening and is able to pick later with more freshness, without raisining of the grapes (he referred to this as "keeping the vines greener". The Blankiets are also using more water in the vineyard, to help the wines get through the hottest, driest spells. Blankiet's Prince of Hearts bottling is blended early, with the objective of making a fresh and fruity style of wine, noted proprietor Claude Blankiet, but additional barrels from the estate's top lots are also declassified into this cuvee later on. The 2009 release of this wine is a big success.