Winemaker Notes
Blend: 47% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a very rich wine that's made in the modern style of soft ripeness and upfront deliciousness. A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, it shows flashy blackberry, cherry, cassis and chocolate flavors. This is best enjoyed over the next few years for it's sheer luxurious taste.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Proprietary Red comes across as quite sumptuous. It lacks some of the classicism of the 2008. Instead, readers will find a wine loaded with dark red fruit, smoke, tar, incense and licorice. This is bigger than the 2008 but not quite as delineated. It makes up for that with gorgeous richness and balance. The 2009 is 47% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2024.
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Wine Spectator
Beautifully made, rich and fleshy, delivering dense, complex layers of red and black fruits, with blackberry, wild berry and boysenberry flavors. Intense and persistent, with a long, persistent finish. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2025.
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.