PHOENIX VINEIYARDS
1997 Napa Valley ESTATE Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker's Notes:
Varietal %s: 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13%Cabernet Franc
Date of Harvest: Sept 7th, 15th and 21stBrix at Harvest: 22.9-24.7 Brix
Length of Ferment: 7-9 days with up to30 days total skin contact time (22 avg.)
End Alcohol: 14.3%
Time in Oak: 20 months in French and American Oak using 20% new barrels
Bottling Date: July 12th, 1999 (No fining or filtration) 520 cases produced
This wine is the debut vintage of our Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. It serves as a testament to the uniqueness and quality of fruit our Estate produces. The wine shows a real sense of place and origin and we feel is indicative of our terroir. Our Cabernet blocks on the Estate, House Block and Hill Block, are together only 3.6 acres of land. Our small vineyard, while able to produce big wines, will never produce large quantities of them.
The 1997 vintage was superb in the Napa Valley. The crop, while larger than average, had one of the earliest harvests on record in California. But, due to an extremely early bud-break, the grapes received the necessary time on the vine to achieve full development. We-also had the benefit of the driest February, March and April on record in Northern California. This led to very healthy, high quality grapes. There was some rain early on in the harvest but in retrospect it was beneficial. At that point in the season our vines were a few weeks away from harvest and needed a little more water. Because of the dry spring many vineyards had no irrigation water by August lst due to the earlier than normal need to start irrigating. Mother Nature came through with the necessary aid at the last minute.
In the winery we tried to enhance what we felt were the special qualities of this particular vintage. The ripe, healthy fruit responded well to long skin contact techniques during the fermentation, which helped extract rich flavors and viscous mouth-feel elements. During the barrel aging process we felt the vintage needed less physical manipulation than usual and only racked the wine twice. Additionally, as with most of our red wines, the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is unfined and unfiltered to preserve maximum character in the wine. When the proper ripeness is achieved in the vineyard it often makes the winemakers task easier.
The wines deep, opaque-purple color is a hint to what lies within. The aromas, while somewhat closed at this early point in the wine s evolution, are a mix of fruit and spice notes, showing sage, cherry, plum and raspberry/framboise. along with some vanillin and caramelized notes from the barrel aging. These qualities carry into the palate while the full texture in the mouth indicates the concentration we were able to achieve. Some fine-grain tannins, much like semi-sweet chocolate, can be noticed late in the palate on the long finish; this structure should help it age for the next several years. Even though it will benefit from further time in the bottle it is already showing well. We recommend decanting this young wine one hour before serving. It should pair nicely withbeef or game, hearty stews, or pastas.
