Winemaker Notes
Heart Hill Vineyard produces dense, rich and complex wines that beg to be cellared while Bootjack Ranch fruit offers a compliment of elegant dark cherry flavors. Together the two sites provide ample room for our winemaking team to pick and choose their favorite Bordeaux lots to create this powerful, layered and structured flagship blend each year.
We hand pick and ferment each block of our vineyards independently and after months of barrel aging we select the best barrels for our Fog Catcher blend. In 2015 a co-fermentation of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc formed the base of this formidable wine with all six other Bordeaux varietals bringing different elements of fruit, structure and spice. We composed the final blend and returned it to barrel as a single entity to age for a total of 29 months, achieving a layered flavor profile only achievable from this type of cohesive aging. This wine is built to age and will withstand years in the bottle. We encourage decanting for 4-5 hours prior to drinking which will elicit softer carnation, blackberry and vanilla bean flavors from the deeply hued wine.
Blend: 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Malbec, 22% Petit Verdot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 5% Carmenere, 5% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A dense blackberry-syrup aroma is made more complex by pinches of dried oregano, pepper and thyme on the nose of this excellent blend of 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Malbec, 22% Petit Verdot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 5% Carmenère and 5% Merlot. Lifted tones of purple fruit layer the palate while a blast of acidity carries accents of licorice, ginger and clove.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
30% Cabernet Sauvignon; 24% Malbec; 22% Petit Verdot; 14% Cabernet Franc; 5% Carmenere; 5% Merlot. On the one hand, a potent and powerful, near-rustic wine, but, on the other, an interesting effort that displays considerable complexity and range, the Niner Fog Catcher offers up a tantalizing aromatic mix of cassis, fresh berries, woodsy spice and scant notes of cinnamon on the nose that carries on into its lengthy and vital young flavors. It is still a bit rough at the edges, but it is so well-filled that it leaves no doubt about its ability to age, and it is one of those wines that, while very enjoyable at five or six years of age, will continue to gain for a good many more.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.