PHOENIX VINEYARDS
1999 RANCHO NAPA ~ NAPA VALLEY RED WINE
Winemaker's Notes:
Varietal %s: 59% Cabernet Franc, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon
Date of Harvest: Nov 19, 1999Brix at Harvest: 23.0-25.0 B
Length of Ferment: 7-10 days with up to 43 days total skin contact time (20 days avg.)
End Alcohol: 13.9%
Time in Oak: 18 months in French and American Oak
Bottling Date: July , 2001 (No fining or filtration)
636 cases produced
This 1999 vintage wine marks the first release of our Rancho Napa blend. We have dedicated this wine to all of those people who caine before us in this bountiful Napa Valley and carried it from a frontier wilderness to one of the greatest wine producing regions in the world. We also dedicate it to our own ancestors who, in the same spirit, helped turn a raw, wild country into a land where dreams come true. In the years before California became a state most of the Napa Valley was divided into Mexican land grants known as Ranchos. This wine is named after, and our winery lies in the middle of, what once was Rancho Napa. We chose to use the bordelais grape varieties in this blend because of their success as immigrants here in the New World.
Each harvest has its own personality. 1999 was overall a later than average harvest while the growing season conditions were close to classic. The spring weather patterns, alternating between warm and cool, along with a moderate and dry growing season, led to very healthy grapes. The grapes for this wine, sourced from a few select vineyards, had very late picking dates. Once these late blocks were ready, they were all ready at once. The long hang-time on the vine led to very good development and maturation of all the skin and seed elements. This helped us create a smoother, richer, more balanced wine.
The majority of the fruit was crushed into open-top fermenters. As with many of our lots, we used the painstaking process of manually mixing the tanks by hand during the fermentation (punchingdown). The ferments were uniformly warm (90F), which resulted in high levels of extraction. We used a range of skin contact times to vary extract levels between the lots. After gentle pressing the varietal lots were put to barrel separately. Minimal handling of the wine led to a slow maturity in barrel. Final blending was conducted with the best barrels. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered to preserve maximum character for the bottle.
The wines first striking note is the intense, saturated dark ruby color. The nose, somewhat closed in its youth, starts with perfumed floral notes (blossoms?). Air exposure slowly brings plum and raspberry aromas along with hints of vanilla. Briar, mineral and cumin scents appear as well as tertiary notes of mint, bay leaf and cooked meat. The entry and middle are well-extracted and full while the red fruit notes carry through the mouth along with dramatic cocoa, subtle lime and mint. The finish is quite long with ample young tannins. This structure will allow the wine to be enjoyed over the next several years. As a young wine it will probably benefit from being decanted 30 minutes before serving. It would pair well with a wide range of main courses including beef, lamb and pork as well as duck.
