Winemaker Notes
This OWC includes three bottles of 2002 Bond Matriarch.
Rigorous selection is employed at every stage of this wine's development. Many components, though singularly attractive and possessing lavish attributes, are not utilized in the final blends for Bond. This provides us the opportunity to create a second wine. This blend, offered under the Matriarch label, will always be evocative of its pedigree and distinct in its hillside character.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bob Levy refers to the Matriarch Proprietary Red as “our elegant leftovers,” a four vineyard blend of juice that did not make the cut for the top wines. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful effort. Sweet black cherry and cedarwood aromas emerge from the medium-bodied 2002 Matriarch Proprietary Red. With a soft, supple texture and an evolved, upfront style, it is ideal for drinking over the next decade. Restaurants as well as consumers who are incapable of deferring their gratification should buy this one by the case. This is the newest brainchild of the irrepressible Bill Harlan and his sensational winemaking team of Bob Levy and Michel Rolland. These are all 100% terroir-based Cabernet Sauvignons from distinctive sites in Napa Valley. There are 600-700 cases of each cuvee. The Melbury represents a hillside vineyard site above Lake Hennessy, the St. Eden is a valley floor vineyard in the Oakville corridor, and Vecina is a western hillside vineyard adjacent to Harlan Estate. I also tasted a stunning wine from Spring Mountain, which may be the next site that Bill Harlan offers to Bond’s mailing list clients. The quality of these singular, extraordinary offerings is world-class.
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.