Winemaker Notes
#35 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2008
Displaying blue fruit notes ranging from mulberry and blueberry to cassis, this dense, weighty wine is not afraid to flaunt its personality. Coffee, anise and tobacco flavors can be found in its depth, while the finish lingers for over a minute. Tannic yet jammy Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from our 25-year old Rock Arch vineyard make up the backbone of this wine, while our more unctuous Quartz Hill and Rim Rock vineyards round out the mid-palate and add finesse. The blend is polished with 0.5% Petit Verdot to add acid and spice. Approachable when young by those who are not intimidated by its heft, this wine will reveal layers of complexity as it evolves over the next 15 to 20 years.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Almost as impressive is the 2005 Cabernet Reserve, a blend of 95.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4.5 % Petit Verdot, in this case sourced 58% from Sonoma County and 42% from Napa. Its 14.5% alcohol is slightly lower than its sibling’s. This full-bodied wine is very concentrated, with a saturated bluish/purple color and a classic nose of mocha and espresso intermixed with crème de cassis and charcoal. The finish is a good 40-45 seconds, and the wine has a remarkable vibrancy and freshness from the vintage’s acidity. This is terrific stuff to drink now and over the next 12-15 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is the densest, most tannic of Pride’s new releases, obviously meant for the cellar. You could drink it now, because it’s so lush, but the tightness suggests that the winemaker doesn’t want you to. Buried under the astringency are masses of cassis, dark chocolate, sweet fresh herbs and smoky oak.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
St. Helena is in the heart of the Napa Valley, nestled between Calistoga to the north and Rutherford on its southern border. On its western side, the Mayacamas Mountains guard it from the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean; to its east stand the Vaca Mountains. In conjunction, these mountain ranges serve to lock in summer daytime heat. But in the evening, cool air from the San Pablo Bay funnels up through the valley, creating very chilly nights. It isn’t uncommon for temperatures to drop 50 degrees, a shift that promotes a balance of sugar ripeness and acidity in wine grapes.
St. Helena contains a plethora of different soil types in a small area, which have been enhanced over centuries by rain runoff from both mountain ranges. Its vineyards cover a variety of terrain, spreading across the bucolic valley floor and its benchlands.
These ideal topographic and climatic growing conditions easily caught the attention of early winemaking pioneers. In fact, St. Helena is the birthplace of Napa Valley’s commercial wine industry. Dr. Crane founded his cellar in 1859, David Fulton in 1860 and Charles Krug in 1861.
Today there are no less than 400 separate vineyards planted within the 12,000 acres that make up the St. Helena appellation.
Revered most for its red wines based on Bordeaux varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, the St. Helena appellation is also a source of superior Syrah, Zinfandel and Sauvignon blanc.