The fruit for this remarkable wine was harvested by hand between October 4 and 27, 2006, entirely from the Husic Family Vineyard estate above the Stags Leap District. Picked at full flavor 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 were fermented on the skins for more than 30 days. The inky-black wine was then transferred by gravity to new barrels and aged for nearly two years in caves held at 58° F. The best barrels were chosen for the final blend, and the wine was bottled without fining and with minimal filtration for clarity.

The finished wine shows ultra-ripe character of Black tea, blackberry jam, anise, cedar, and a touch of milk chocolate. At first taste, the warm berry flavors are most apparent, with more savory cedar/tobacco/mocha notes supporting the fruit in the mid-palate. Consistent with the character often found in steep, rocky hillsides, the structure of the wine is dense and firm with tremendous flavor concentration, yet shows fully ripe tannins that gracefully yield to a lingering finish of sweet black fruits. of this wine.

The finished wine is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot; 100% Estate-grown, and aged in 90% new French oak barrels. 1060 cases were bottled on July 8, 2008.

Husic Vineyards 2007 Chardonnay

A lovely range of cluster colors running from light blonde to amber visually display the ripe fruit aromas and flavors held within the tiny cluster of Chardonnay for this lovely wine. Harvested from two separate vineyards; one on the slopes of Pritchard Hill which stretch upward from Lake Hennessey, the other, Green Island, stretching toward San Pablo Bay in Napa's southernmost reaches, yielded small clusters of golden gems. Harvested by hand between August 31 and September 4, 2007, the whole clusters were pressed gently, and the juice was briefly cold-settled before transferring into 75% new French oak for fermentation. After fermentation, the wine was put entirely through the secondary, malo-lactic fermentation, then left on lees with bi-weekly lees stirring for a total of 11 months of barrel age. The resulting wine shows the hallmark of extended lees aging; its creamy vanilla aromas are tightly intertwined with the Pritchard Hill vineyard's trademark peach/apricot and tropical notes, and the Green Island’s mineral and pear tones. The texture is full, rich, and silky, showing ripe fruit notes and a sweet vanilla caramel tone throughout the finish.

A total of 488 cases were bottled on August 4, 2008

Written by our Winemaker Celia Masyczek.

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