Winemaker Notes
The perfume of rose petals, red fruit, cranberries, and cinnamon jump out of the glass in this beautifully aromatic wine. The bright warm spices are balanced by earthier notes of pine forest, cedar, and tobacco. On the palate, the wine lifts and coats all of the corners of your mouth with incredibly supple tannins that make the wine linger long after it is gone.
Blend: 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a showcase of savory earthiness and supple tannin. Inky dark, it offers a wealth of balanced red fruit, notes of tobacco, gun smoke and dried herb, with an understated elegance that shines.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
Blackberries, blackcurrants, crushed stones and violets on the nose. Medium-to full-bodied with fine tannins and a fresh finish. Lovely, dusty undertone. Rather refined and pretty
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, it leaps from the glass with redcurrant jelly, blackberry preserves and fresh blackcurrants scents, plus hints of sautéed herbs, damp soil, tapenade and truffles. The medium to full-bodied palate is finely texture with lovely freshness to lift the generous fruit, delivering a savory finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Firebelle is based on 57% Cabernet Sauvignon with 43% Merlot, all of which was raised 18 months in 67% new French oak. It has a Bordeaux-inspired nose of darker cherries and currants as well as leather, tobacco, and damp earth. I love it on the palate, where it’s medium to full-bodied, has wonderful purity, and silky tannins. Drink this seamless, elegant, yet still pleasure-bent beauty over the coming 10-15 years.
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Wine Spectator
This sports a core of mulled loganberry and mulberry fruit along with licorice snap and roasted alder. Open-knit and juicy through the finish. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Drink now.
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.