Winemaker Notes
Fine-textured, firm tannins make this wine easy to drink, and versatile with a wide variety of hard cheeses. Also consider grilled meats, especially lamb chops, hearty stews and other moderately rich dishes.
Blend: 27% Petit Verdot, 27% Merlot, 18% Malbec, 14% Cabernet Franc, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This blend leads with 27% each of Petit Verdot and Merlot, followed by 18% Malbec, 14% Cabernet Franc and 14% Cabernet Sauvignon. Structured and grippy in tobacco, cedar and currant, it offers classic style and herbaceouness around integrated tannins and oak.
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.