Winemaker Notes
Each vintage, the Paraduxx brand celebrates an artist-label series with a different artist's signature medium and style interpreted through a pair of ducks native to the Pacific Flyway. The 2004 Paraduxx label is the eleventh in this series. For this release, Northern California artist Andrew Denman created an acrylic painting of a pair of Wood Ducks in their natural habitat.
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
65% Zinfandel; 28% Cabernet Sauvignon; 7% Merlot. Deeply fruited and redolent of ripe currants, blackberries, briary spice and a wee bit of chocolate, Paraduxx once again strikes out on its own unique path and comes up something more than typical Zin. It is full and fleshy with fine balance and a bit of Cabernet grip, and its very deep, genuinely complex flavors are as long as they are impressively layered. It has a sense of refinement even if it is a touch tannic to finish, and there is no question but that it will improve for four or five years.
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Wine Enthusiast
This year the blend is Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. As always, the wine is rich, complex, ageable, and unique among California reds. Zin brings its distinctly briary, wild berry taste to the pedigree of the Bordeaux varieties. The result is a balanced, elegant and refined wine that will stand five to eight years of age. A great accomplishment, with nearly 13,000 cases produced.
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.