The fruit for this remarkable wine was harvested by hand from September 9th through the 13th, 2004, entirely from the three Husic Vineyard estate vineyards above the Stags Leap District. Picked at extreme ripeness, the fruit was gently hand-sorted, destemmed, and sorted again until each grape was inspected. The grapes were carefully transferred to a fermentation tank without the use of pumps, and then fermented on the skins for more that 30 days. The inky-black wine was transferred by gravity to new French oak barrels, and aged for nearly two years in the caves held at 58 degrees Fahrenheit. The best barrels were chosen for the final blend. The wine was then bottled without fining and with minimal filtration for clarity.

The finished wine shows ultra-ripe character of dark chocolate, nutmeg, anise, and raspberry jam aromas, with warm blackberry and soft earth notes coming forward as the wine warms in the glass. On the palate, the ultra-ripe character is immediately apparent, with a thick, soft molten-chocolate texture that envelopes the fruit characters. The Husic Estate's steep hillsides and limited soils consistently give very low yields of small berries, and the hillside origins of the 2004 vintage are apparent in the structure, density and soft finish of this wine.

The finished wine is 100% Cabernet, 100% Estate-grown, and aged in 100% new French oak barrels. 1042 Cases were produced.