Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 La Vaquera is a blend of 58% Petite Sirah, 32% Petit Verdot and 10% Malbec. As one might expect, this wine is as dark as a moonless sky. Notes of earth, blue fruits and violets lead to a massively extracted, rich, full-bodied wine, but surprisingly, it has no trace of rusticity or harsh tannin. It is a big, juicy fruit bomb and will develop and age for at least 15-20 years., given its composition. This is an intriguing wine, and it’s probably worth putting a few bottles away for what I predict will be wonderful surprise in 12-15 or more years. 91+ points
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2014 La Vaquera checks in as a blend of 58% Petite Sirah, 32% Petit Verdot and 10% Malbec. As you’d expect given the blend, it’s a glass staining purple color and offers exotic, huge notes of blue fruits, graphite, flowers, and charcoal. Ripe, full-bodied, firm and angular on the palate, it packs tons of fruit and texture, is a terrific steakhouse red, and should keep for 10-15 years.
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.