Winemaker Notes
About the Vineyards
Vineyards
Our SVR is an expression of our winemaking style. We evaluate the characteristics of several varietals from different vineyards to create our ultimate reserve red wine. For 2007, we found the ideal balance of mountain, bench and valley fruit in grapes primarily from Diamond Mountain (33 percent), Yountville (33 percent) and Rutherford (16 percent). Each of these distinct regions contributes a unique profile, building intricate layers and complex character in this special reserve wine.
Winemaking
Each year, we evaluate grapes from our finest vineyards to craft a reserve blend that has a dense, dark fruit core and supple, chocolaty tannins. We want a wine that is complex and ageworthy, but accessible enough to enjoy right away. In 2007, our Cabernet Sauvignon, which makes up 66 percent of the blend, showed fleshy, well-balanced fruit, which was perfectly complemented by the excellent structure and well-built tannins of our Merlot from up the valley. The remainder is Cabernet Franc, which so impressed us with its effusive aromas, rich texture and lovely chocolate-cherry and violet notes that we used it for 7 percent of the blend.
Vintage
The 2007 vintage was textbook perfect, with a long, even growing season and good warmth for small, concentrated grapes with vibrant flavors. Lower-than-average winter rainfall and a warm spring resulted in early budbreak, which was followed by moderate temperatures throughout the growing season. The cool conditions and long hangtime encouraged full phenolic ripeness and intense flavors in our grapes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Just lovely to drink now, it's so softly lush and decadently delicious. Beguiles the palate with jammy, pastry flavors of raspberries, cherries and sweet oak. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
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.