Winemaker Notes
Each year, we choose only the most distinct small lots of fruit grown in the red rocky soil of our vineyard on Pritchard Hill, we choose just the best barrels and blend them together to create the new vintage of OVID. Napa Valley. The wine is a blend of the four Bordeaux varietals grown here: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot, varying in proportion from year-to-year but always eloquently conveying this special place.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Proprietary Red, a slightly different blend from the 2012 of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Cabernet Franc, is a much smaller production of 350 cases. This wine, which ratchets up the level of intensity, has an opaque purple color and a beautiful nose of blackberry, blueberry and cassis as well as hints of espresso, white flowers, and subtle background toast. The wine hits the palate with a cascade of gorgeous fruit, sweet tannin, great delineation and acidity, and a long, velvety, voluptuously textured mouthfeel. This big, inky, thick, juicy wine should age beautifully for 25-30 years.
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James Suckling
Mahogany, black olive and star anise in the aromas segue to charcoal, singed herbs, graphite and dark plums with hints of balsamic. Still very firm in texture while maturing and gaining complexity in flavors.
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Wine Spectator
A dense, powerful expression of loamy earth, crushed rock and gravelly dark berry, shaded by firm, cedary oak. Dense and tannic, this begs for cellaring, though the flavors keep unfolding on the finish. Best from 2017 through 2032.
OVID is an organically farmed, 15-acre vineyard perched on a secluded mountaintop at 1,400 ft. elevation in the western reaches of the Pritchard Hill geography of Napa Valley. Here, they farm rocky red, volcanic soils to capture a true sense of place and craft long lived wines composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. They ferment only with native yeasts and bottle their wines without fining or filtering.
The Winemaker since 2006, Austin Peterson, combines his site-specific experience with a sense of experimentation, embracing a tension between classical and cutting-edge winemaking methods.
The name was inspired by the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso [Ovid], whose METAMORPHOSES, a poetic retelling of the Greek myths, celebrates themes of transformation and change.
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.