We aged the wine in Atelier Centre France and Chassin cooperage for 14-months with 50% new barrels. The Platt site, like Grand Cru Chablis sites, is expressive of the vineyard terrior and reflective of a balanced barrel regime. I believe in letting each site express itself and that means that each of our wines has a unique barrel program and wine chemistry that reflect that particular site in a given vintage.
The 2017 Flanagan Pinot Noir Platt Vineyard is a compelling expression of what is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest vineyard sites in California. The wine has a brilliant color and the fruit character, despite the very cool site, is explosive. The nose offers a rich bouquet of ripe cranberry, cola, and a hint of spice. The palate shows very clean dark red fruit with a silky, persistent finish. Incredible acidity, a beautiful mouthfeel, and an incredible purity of fruit character make this a reference point wine.
This Chardonnay delights with the aromas of fresh pineapple along with hints of honeysuckle. It offers fresh flavors of pear, melon, stone fruit with a citrus finish.
The 2018 Herson Family Vineyards Influence Chardonnay is balanced, complex, and distinctively connected to its Carneros terroir. It is gently floral on the nose and has a silky texture, rich ripe fruit and compelling freshness on the palate. There are notes of ripe apricot, pink grapefruit and hints of lemon and lime peels. It has a long finish with delightful acidity balanced by ripe fruit. No technological gimmicks or additives were used making this wine. It was crafted by one of Napa Valley’s iconic winemakers who puts his trust in his instinct and pallet when creating wines that are among Napa Valley’s finest.
Intoxicating notes of citrus blossom, pineapple, and lychee aromatics with underlying hints of wet stone minerality. Bright and racy acidity frames the mid-palate with zesty notes of grapefruit, lime zest, and white watermelons. The wine will develop some natural tartrate crystals through aging. Enjoy chilled at 45F and let this unique wine blossom as it warms up in the glass.
An elegant and seductive perfume of white peach, ginger, and dried sage ascends, leading to a rush of Asian pear, lemon marmalade, and tropical lychee flavors. A layer of crushed chalk minerality and brioche-like toastiness emerges as the wine opens in the glass. Delightfully balanced with a bright and zingy acidity, backed by a rich and full-bodied texture that allows this Sauvignon Blanc to get better with each sip.
The 2016 "Appassionata" displays an incredibly opaque, purple core with hints of magenta and ruby on the rim. The nose delights with aromas of blackcurrant liqueur, blueberry, blackberry, black cherry and violets over complex secondary notes of cacao, tobacco, a touch of wet leather, crushed earth, a kiss of ground coffee, finely crushed stones, vanilla bean and exotic baking spices.
2016 Cabernet Sauvignon (Coombsville) is superb. Dark, powerful, and savory, full-bodied, it packs a serious punch. The near-perfect 2016 growing season started early, saw ideal weather conditions throughout and wrapped up as the valley's first significant fall rainstorm arrived on October 14. Thanks to a relatively steady and mild July and August and then a series of warm days at the end of the growing season, vineyards were able to progress to perfect ripeness. Wines from the 2016 vintage are now quietly developing in cellars throughout Napa Valley and vintners are pinching themselves and smiling for the gift it appears Mother Nature has given them: a fifth consecutive vintage of stellar quality Napa Valley wines.
The sensational 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford comes from clone 4 and the old Georges III Vineyard now owned by Beckstoffer. This is a floral, earthy wine with a dense purple color and a big, sweet, complex nose that follows through on the palate with loads of kirsch liqueur, black currants, dusty soil undertones, some cedar wood and spicy oak. Opaque purple, full-bodied, and generously endowed, it can be drunk over the next 15-20 years.
The wine is very elegant with aromas of apricot, peach, carmel and honey, is balanced by a bright acidity, nice weight mid-palate,with copious amounts of apricot and peach that lingers to a crisp finish.
Very well balanced. The 2014 "Nobility" is delicately layered with aromas and flavors of honey, apricot, vanilla, pear, toasty oak, fig, tobacco, and a balanced acidity that carries through to a rich, honeyed finish.
