NOMAD
2006 NOMAD
NAPA VALLEY CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Vineyard Source: Beckstoffer's Las Piedras, St. Helena, CA
Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation: Napa Valley, CA
Clone: 4
Bottling Date: July 21, 2008
Barrels: 80% New French Oak
TASTING NOTES
This is a lavishly dense wine resulting from exquisite grapes married with very fine French oak barrels. The ripe, concentrated fruit shows itself first in the very dark purple color, nearly opaque in the glass. The aroma is very elegant, beginning with black cherry and dark berry fruit knit with just the right amount of French oak. The wine is rich, dense, seamless and properly loaded with mouth-filling balancing tannins. It gives a dark and powerful impression of concentrated black berries, plums and dark chocolate. Built to age for a decade or two, NOMAD will continue to reward with time as the dark fruit will mingle with the profusion of bouquet notes adding to its plush, powerful structure, slowly melt to velvet.
STEWART
2008 STEWART CELLARS
SONOMA MOUNTAIN, FARINA VINEYARD, CHARDONNAY
Appellation: Sonoma Mountain
Production: 300 cases
Vineyard Source: Farina Vineyard
Alcohol: 14.5%
Composition: 100% Chardonnay
Barrels: 60% new French oak
Consulting Winemaker: Paul Hobbs
TASTING NOTES
This is a plush, fragrant young wine showing a delicate balance between flavors of the fruit and the careful touch of the winemaker. Pretty medium yellow in color, the wine is only very slightly hazy after bottling without filtration. The aroma starts with a bouquet of floral notes and a bit of honey. The nose then opens with wisps of lavender, cinnamon and just a hint of toasted grain from the French oak in which it was fermented. Time in the glass reveals underlying ripe pear and baked apple that promises to be the core of the wine as it develops in the bottle. In the mouth it is rich and round without an angle or edge, soft and plush throughout with the pear and apple flavors leading to the honey and floral finish.
STEWART
2007 STEWART CELLARS
RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY PINOT NOIR
Appellation: Russian River Valley (85.5%),
Sonoma Coast (14.5%)
Production: 900 cases
Vineyard Source: Gibson Vineyard (85.5%),
Gap's Crown (14.5%)
Clone: Dijon 115
Rootstock: 101-14
Alcohol: 14.5%
Composition: 100% Pinot Noir
Barrels: 60% new French oak,
40% 1-year-old French oak
Consulting Winemaker: Paul Hobbs
TASTING NOTES
The growing conditions of 2007 in the Russian River Valley were nearly ideal for producing very ripe, intensely flavored grapes. Rainfall throughout the year was scant and the summer temperatures were moderate. This Pinot Noir clearly shows the quality and character of the stellar vintage. The wine is dark purple, immediately forecasting its concentrated dark fruit core. Its aroma is loaded with berry and dark toffee notes, mingling with a subtle touch of very fine French oak. In the mouth the wine is rich and dense, powerful for a Pinot Noir, with a little young tannin that will melt away with years in the bottle. The ripeness of the vintage is evident in the layered notes of plum, cranberry, pomegranate and molasses. The dense, fleshy texture continues through a long, juicy finish.
STEWART
2007 STEWART CELLARS
NAPA VALLEY CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Appellation: Napa Valley
Production: 1000 cases
Consulting Winemaker: Paul Hobbs
Robert Parker Rating: 93 points
Vineyard Source: Lisa's Vineyard: 24% (Calistoga),
State Lane: 22% (Yountville), Rapp Lane: 38%
(Napa), Beckstoffer IV: 16% (St. Helena)
Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Aging: 22 months in 65% New French Oak
(Taransaud, Seguin Moreau, Vicard),
20-25 day maceration, 100% malolactic
WINEMAKING
The grapes for this wine were farmed and picked on a row-by-row basis to ensure optimal ripeness. The fruit was then hand sorted and whole berry fermented in small lots. Aged in barrel for 22 months, this wine was neither fined nor filtered prior to bottling.
TASTING NOTES
This is a rich and plump wine from a great vintage, with the structure of grapes grown in great sites and complexity of careful raising in the cellar to age nicely for a decade at least. The wine’s nearly opaque purple-ruby color foretells the aroma's depth of dark fruit, oak spice and tobacco notes. The aroma opens to show berries, cherries and plums with hints of pomegranate and smoke. In the mouth the wine starts with richness and silk underlain by a powerful base of concentrated ripe tannins and just the right balancing acidity. The ripe fruit flavors are beautifully wound with subtle toast, smoke and spice from French oak barrels. There is an impression of dark tobacco leaf and cedar mixed with the black fruit in the long, fleshy finish. The lingering grip of the wine's structure will slowly resolve to velvet with time in the bottle.