Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A terroir selection, the flagship 2017 Profile offers a classic nose of ripe blackcurrants, scorched earth, tobacco, cedar, and dried spices. This carries to an elegant, beautifully balanced 2017 with plenty of mid-palate depth, building yet polished tannins, and a great finish. It's a classic, more savory, nuanced 2017 that will evolve for two decades.
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James Suckling
Grilled-plum, sage, coffee and burnt-orange aromas here. It’s full-bodied with firm, fine-grained tannins. Chewy and flavorful. Better from 2021.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is an estate-grown blend led by Cabernet Sauvignon that was given 23 months in French oak, 80% of it new. Thick and powerfully muscular, it offers hearty, full-bodied layers of leather, gun smoke and black currant, with well-integrated tannin and oak. It is both complex and immensely appealing.
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.