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Appellation: |
Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District |
Varietal: |
Cabernet Sauvignon Blend |
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Winemaker Notes |
| Deep ruby color, bright and youthful appearance considering
age. Dusty, spicy aroma with a toasty bouquet typical
of aged Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. Full body,
strong broad tannins, good acidity, rich lingering finish. This wine, if carefully decanted, is great drinking. It’s rich and full and , though it may not improve
with additional bottle age, it will hold up splendidly
to further cellaring. A superb gift to that special
person born in 1979 and just reaching adulthood…or
someone that just feels that way. |
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The 1979 Vintage |
| This vintage is unusual in that it is made entirely from
Cabernet Sauvignon. In the 70’s and 80’s
it was common for Spring Mountain to blend Merlot or Cabernet
Franc, or both, in small amounts in their Cabernet
bottling. The largest source of grapes for these wines
was their Wildwood Vineyard in east Rutherford along the
Silverado Trail. There they grew Cabernet Sauvignon,
Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. This vineyard was sold
to Seagram in 1996 and is the site of Mumm, Napa Valley
today. The wine was fermented to full extraction and
aged in well seasoned French oak barrels for 22 months. It was bottled in August 1981. |
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Spring Mountain Estate |
| Grapes from each of the four vineyard properties are considered
as we select the lots to be used in our Estate Cabernet
Sauvignon. The multitude of top quality lots with
distinctly different attributes allows us to be extremely
selective in making the final blend. The result is
a true Estate Cabernet Sauvignon that reflects the unique
growing conditions of the Spring Mountain growing district. |
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Spring Mountain Vineyard |
| Originally four individual historic Napa Valley properties, Miravalle, La Perla, Alba, and Chevalier have now been combined to create an 850 acre estate of forest and vineyard on the eastern slopes of Spring Mountain overlooking the small town of Saint Helena. Over 225 acres of the estate are planted to vine, creating 135 separate hillside vineyard blocks each with its own unique soil, exposure, and microclimate. The vineyard is planted in densities of 4,000 vines per acre and trained to the ancient gobelet form, a vertical trellising method that was invented in an earlier millennium by the Romans. |
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