Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This wine offers some notes of cherries and tobacco leaves. Black pepper, too. Medium-to full-bodied with a slightly austere and chewy tannin structure. Yet, it’s balanced and fresh with a warming finish. Generous yet firm. This needs food.
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Wine Enthusiast
Tightly built yet retains a sense of refinement, offering blackberry, stony mineral and spiced cinnamon flavors, finishing with slightly taut tannins. Best after 2019.
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Wine Spectator
Tightly built yet retains a sense of refinement, offering blackberry, stony mineral and spiced cinnamon flavors, finishing with slightly taut tannins. Best after 2019.
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.