Winemaker Notes
For the fullest sensory experience, we encourage decanting, allowing Continuum tobreathe before serving. Decanting awakens the wine's more purely fragrant expression andenhances the suppleness on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Proprietary Red comes mostly from the To Kalon vineyard, with 13% of the fruit from Pritchard Hill. Blended of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc and 18% Petit Verdot, it has a deep garnet color and bursts out of the glass with pure cassis, vibrant blueberry preserves and blackberry pie scents with a profound underlying fragrance of candied violets, cinnamon stick, cloves and underbrush plus notions of beef drippings and pencil shavings. Full-bodied and voluptuously fruited with firm, ripe, grainy tannins and fantastic freshness, it has wonderfully pure layers, finishing very long. It has incredible delineation and should be very long lived.
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Wine Enthusiast
Feels fancy and important in the mouth, with pure, refined tannins housing ripe, complex flavors of blackberries, black currants, cherries, chocolate, exotic spices and sweet, smoky oak. The finish is dry but with a tinge of sweetness, like an infused blackberry liqueur, which probably is the result of high (15.3%) alcohol. Very rich and layered, and a great addition to the Napa cult pantheon. Cabernet, with Cab Franc and Petit Verdot.
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Wine Spectator
A wonderful expression of Cabernet, sleek and polished, with a mix of rich, layered black cherry, currant, wild berry and plum fruit that's intense, concentrated, focused and stylish, turning spicy, with cedary anise and sage notes on a long, persistent finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2020.
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.