FAY Block 5C: Gone but Not Forgotten

Sometimes a winery has to make tough choices. A case in point is the story of Block 5C, a section of Merlot vines in our FAY vineyard.

After we acquired the land from Nathan Fay in 1986, our first decade of farming this historic vineyard was spent learning the right match of weather, land, and viticultural practice in each corner of the property. In 1990 we planted a small portion of Block 5 of the vineyard to Merlot and designated it sub-block 5C.

It proved to be the right variety in the right place, and FAY Block 5C Merlot has regularly contributed to CASK 23. Indeed, the 2000 vintage from this sub-block was already earmarked as a potential blending component for the newest edition of CASK 23 when Warren Winiarski tasted a sample in the spring of 2001.

He was so moved by its exceptional beauty that he asked Associate Winemaker Nicki Pruss to reserve some as a separate bottling. The 2000 FAY Block 5C Merlot became our fifth estate Merlot bottling and our very first release of a FAY Merlot.

The decision to bottle FAY 5C was a fortunate one, but with a bittersweet coda. Although the Merlot vines produced beautiful fruit, they were plagued by nematodes and other ailments. Even more important, we’d come to realize that Block 5C lies in a crescent-shaped swath of soils stretching across both our FAY and S.L.V. vineyards that consistently produces unusually intense Cabernet Sauvignon—fruit that forms the backbone of CASK 23. Given the problems the Merlot vines were suffering, we had no choice but to remove them after the 2002 harvest and prepare the block for replanting to Cabernet Sauvignon.

Luckily, the peak of the sub-block’s all too brief life in Merlot has been preserved in this limited bottling. Those fortunate enough to obtain a bottle of Block 5C Merlot will be able to savor the power and finesse of this beautiful corner of FAY for many years to come.