Winemaker Notes
This is a 40-acre vineyard at the base of Mt. St. Helena, northeast of Calistoga. Very steeply terraced, it was planted in 1990 and 1993. The soil is a shallow clay-loam atop white volcanic ash, which provides excellent drainage and limits yields to between 1.4 and 2.7 tons per acre.
The seventh vintage from this vineyard (counting the three made at Rudd), Ramey considers 2004 to be among the best, comparable to 2002—showing a bit less baby fat, with more classic elegance. A precociously early vintage, they harvested the blocks that went into this blend over the thirty days from the 10th of September to the 9th of October (fully half of this vineyard ends up in our Claret each year). At 76% Cabernet Sauvignon (23% Merlot & 2% Cabernet Franc), they finally declared the wine as a Cabernet on the label, after years of calling it Red Wine in the fine print.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 Jericho Canyon Vineyard Proprietary Red Wine is impressive. It’s surprisingly youthful with soft hints of maturity and is in an ideal spot for drinking. It has alluring scents of dried cherries and currants with accents of baking chocolate, pipe tobacco, eucalyptus and forest floor, and the full-bodied palate is polished, powdery and bright.
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.