Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This gorgeous 2007 Syrah Mt. Veeder displays a dense purple color in addition to a beautiful perfume of spring flowers, blueberries, raspberries, and cool black currants as well as power and richness allied to elegance and burgeoning complexity. Its texture, purity, full-bodied mouthfeel, ethereal style, impeccable precision, and overall high quality suggest it will provide plenty of pleasure for a decade or more.
94+ -
Wine Spectator
Firm and intense, with a trim yet complex band of spicy currant, wild berry, mineral, sage and pebble. Very much a Northern Rhône–styled wine with its structure and minerality. Needs aeration. Best from 2011 through 2018. 850 cases made.
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.