Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
In more vintages than not, this bottling has turned out to be our favorite from Storybook Mountain. And here again, it is a ripe, generous, yet impeccably balanced wine whose keen blackberry fruit in nose and mouth comes with a mix of intensity and youthful restraint that promises more and better as the wine ages. Fullness plays off against firming acids, and tannin crops up in the late going, and so much about this lovely wine calls for a bit of patience that we would caution against early drinking lest you miss the best it will have to offer.
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Wine & Spirits
The smell of this wine becomes irresistible as it takes on air, the flavors increasingly more expansive in the mouth. All the aromas pile up in a heady rush of roses, wildflowers, crushed rock and crushed black pepper. The dark, glass-coating pomegranate color shows off its power, the vibrant edge mirrors the glint of the wine's mineral tannins. Wolfgang Weber compared its fruit character to the little plums, no bigger than cherries, which grow in St. Helena and Calistoga. Top vintages of Jerry Seps's zinfandels can age for 20 years or more, and this one has the inner strength to go the distance.
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.