Vintage Notes

Our historic blend of the Hudson and Hyde vineyards shows the classic tangerine oil and crème brûlée richness of aroma over intense marzipan and nectarine flavors. The palate is broad, but still well mannered. The finish is long and positively saline–dare we say “minerality?” Back when Robert Parker was visiting, he called this the Bâtard-Montrachet of Napa.

From the 6-acre original planting with some vines going back to the 1970s, this gnarly old vineyard miraculously gives us a wine completely unique in the world. It’s like a riddle: how can a wine be so sublimely subtle and so unbelievably intense at the same time? The Judge (John’s father) would have been 101 this year.

We have made Syrah from this 2+ acre vineyard in Carneros since the inception of the brand in 1996. It remains as distinctive from its competition as the Judge is to the rest of California Chardonnay. More animal than vegetable, our savory Syrah lives in its own rarefied world–waiting for you to serve it with duck or something even wilder.

Our Cabernet vineyard around the winery at 2,300’ above Napa on the eastern rim of the Valley has both the power and grace we look for in this Bordeaux-inspired wine. 25% Merlot adds suppleness to the wine. Look for the graphite and cedar aromas and enjoy the architecture which balances fruit and tannin.

This blend of co-fermented Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is named after our friend the great Uzbeki pianist Yefim “Fima” Bronfman. He is known in the Classical music world as a gentle giant, and the wine lives up to this reputation – powerful and brooding while elegant, inclined toward the Pomerol/St. Emillion aesthetic.

Occasionally we have a barrel or two of our beautiful Merlot which is not required for the Cabernet blend. Standing alone in this perfect vintage, you can behold the glory of Merlot in this micro-bottling. The very old, very shy-bearing vines give us a wine of amazing depth, and, as we have learned from the few previous bottling, they age beautifully. The 2012, for example, is truly splendid as a ten-year-old. Only one barrel was produced.