Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The exquisite 2004 Proprietary Red Wine offers up notes of lead pencil shavings, licorice, Asian plum sauce, black currants and a hint of underlying minerality. Full-bodied yet beautifully silky and seductive, it has shed most of its tannins, resulting in a complex, singular red wine of majestic proportions. The finish is among the longest of any 2004 I tasted, and gorgeous levels of fruit and extract hide any notions of new oak. This cuvee tastes like a hypothetical blend of a great Pauillac, Pessac-Leognan and Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. It should drink well over the next two decades.
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Wine Spectator
A rich, savory, extracted style, with strong mocha-espresso bean and spicy currant flavors that are intense, focused, long and persistent, ending with firm, ripe tannins. Combines power with finesse. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2015. 300 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.