Winemaker Notes
A reflection of site, the blend' s personality transcends the five Bordeaux varieties and offers an intimate expression of our terroir. The winery picks each block separately and ferment in four-ton French oak and concrete fermenters. With a 30-dayfermentation average, they drain and raise the wine to barrels for 22 months - 50% new and 50% once used.
Blend: 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot, 5% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Estate Selection is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, and 5% each of Malbec, Petit Verdot and Merlot. It has a deep ruby color and pretty wafts of mint chocolate, thyme, violet, soy sauce and fennel with a core of ripe blackcurrants. The medium-bodied palate is velvety, expansive and seamless with energetic acidity and haunting herbal wafts on the finish. It's a very drinkable style that nonetheless has the potential to develop positively in bottle over the next decade.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark boysenberries, elegant purple flowers and a pinch of pepper make for a compelling nose on this blend, which is presented in a restrained rather than bombastic style. The palate is smoothly textured, with just enough bite to balance the rich, creamy flavors of berry, mocha and lightly cracked pepper.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Estate Selection is more of a blend and is based on 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, and 5% each of Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Malbec, all aged in 50% new barrels. It’s a stunner, offering beautiful purity in its cassis, darker cherry, and blackberry-like fruits as well as notes of graphite and chalky minerality. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it’s perfectly balanced, has great tannins, plenty of mid-palate depth, and outstanding length. Drink it over the coming 10-15 years.
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James Suckling
Aromas of blackberries, dark thyme, dried herbs, bark and vanilla. Full body with plush tannins. Rich and fruity with a creamy texture and a flavorful, chewy finish. Nice firmness and focus. Drink from 2023.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
On the eastern end of the Santa Ynez Valley, the rolling hills of the tiny Happy Canyon AVA produce top quality reds from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and whites from Sauvignon blanc. The region’s low-nutrient soil grows smaller vines and in turn, higher quality wine grapes.