Winemaker Notes
Blend: 43% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Blackbird Arise is a beautifully designed wine blending Bordeaux grape varieties into a delicious mix of flavor personalities. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers an excellent mix of ripe fruit, rusticity, and savory spices. Pair it with a grilled, well-seasoned, bone-in pork chop. (Tasted: May 22, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
-
James Suckling
Stewed cherry, walnut, licorice and baked red apple on the nose. It’s medium-bodied with firm, sleek tannins and crisp acidity. Ripe-fruit and spice flavors, yet fresh. Drink or hold.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.