Journal | November 4, 2025

Red wine grapes

First Impressions: 2025 Reds

Last week the last of our reds were drained and pressed. The have some very nice material to work with when it comes time to blend. Here are my first impressions of the young, raw wines.

Merlot

Medium bodied, red fruit, elegant and concentrated, but not powerful. Given the dry late summer/fall, I would have expected more weight. These blocks were infected fairly heavily by Spotted Lanternfly which may have compromised ripening. Should be a reliably good blending partner with Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cabernet Franc

We kept the young vines and old vines lots separate as they were distinctly different. The young vine lot is massive and concentrated, but a bit rustic. The high alcohol extracted lots of seed tannins which are not as refined as skin tannins. We’ll have to be judicious when adding this wine to any blend. The old vine lot is a beauty with both power and elegance. I just wish that we had more of it.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon always has the most regal, fine grained tannins. 2025 is no exception. Here we have density and concentration along with persistent length. The acidity is on the high side so we decided to be cautious with extraction. High tannins and high acidity can make for a difficult finish. But the press wine is special with mouth coating high quality tannins. How these tannins will integrate during blending trials will influence the style of 2025 wines.

Petit Verdot

The warmer Boisseau Vineyard produced a very concentrated, ripe, but rustic Petit Verdot which will be the base for the single vineyard blend. However, the cooler Avenius and Hardscrabble vineyards retained so much acidity that the wines will probably not blend well. Not sure at this time, but Petit Verdot remains very much a wild card (or wild child!).

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Hardscrabble Journal: November 4, 2025