Winemaker Notes
A Goldilocks vintage in Napa, 2019 welcomed spring rains that soaked the soils – similar to 2017 – and set the stage for even, early season growth. June and July proved to be idyllic for the vines with temperatures largely in the 80s. August brought the dog days of summer with sustained but relatively moderate heat gently ripening our tender grapes and providing us a measured lead-in to harvest.
The resulting 2019 Hexameter reflects this spectacular vintage with perfectly poised power and grace. Notes of plum, Rainier cherry and boysenberry all picked at their zenith meld with aromas of rhubarb pie, lavender, sage and forest floor. Layered and redolent, this wine strikes a perfect balance of depth, vibrancy and brawn that will reward for decades to come.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Pure Napa Valley magic as well as a perfect wine, the 2019 Hexameter reveals a deep purple hue along with an incredibly complex bouquet of black raspberries, spring flowers, cassis, vanilla, and tobacco. This carries to a layered, full-bodied red with ultra-fine tannins, perfect balance, a deep, opulent mouthfeel, and an incredible finish. This is one of those wines where nothing is out of place, and while it already delivers pleasure today, it's going to evolve for 20-25 years. The blend is 55% Cabernet Franc, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Merlot and Petit Verdot. Hats off to the team at Ovid for this incredible wine.
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Decanter
This is the first vintage with no cold soaking or extended macerations of the Ovid wines. Winemaker Austin Peterson explains that all the work they’ve done with their Experiment bottlings and in the vineyards is to arrive at a place where the winemaking is hands-off. Clusters are sorted by hand and go through an optical sorter, which they started using in 2015. Gravity flow brings the fruit to tanks, and after fermentation, the free-run juice is bled into stainless steel before going into barrel. Racking is kept to a minimum, and the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in barrel. Beginning in January after harvest, Peterson begins culling together the final blend to marry harmoniously in oak. After 22 months in 30% new French oak, this is a compact, tight, and gorgeously structured Cabernet Franc blend. With some aeration, an intricate tapestry of aromas emerges in details of ripe red berry fruits, toffee, and cedar. Full-bodied, youthful, and tightly knit with dark berried fruits, sagebrush and wild herbal spices, fragrant rose petals, and searing acid tension framed by building tannins that are sappy in youth and will unwind in a multi-dimensional fracturing that is sure to release more fireworks. Just wait.
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James Suckling
A very pure, silky, deep and delicious red based on cabernet franc grapes. This wraps a velvety texture of fine-grained tannins around dark blueberry, blackcurrant, dark chocolate, sage and savory flavors. Refined, elegant and complete.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Boasting bold, assertive aromas of red cherries and black tea, plus hints of black olives and mocha, the Cabernet Franc-based 2019 Hexameter—56% Cabernet Franc, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Merlot—is medium to full-bodied and rather open-knit in feel. The texture is more coarse velvet than plush, but there's ample complexity and length. Rating: 94+
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Wine Spectator
Delivers dark plum and blackberry fruit with a caressing edge, despite showing some depth and weight, while smoldering cast iron, tobacco and roasted alder hints peek through and emerge steadily through the finish. Shows the muscular shoulders of Cab Franc throughout. Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2023 through 2036.
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.