NOMAD
2005 NOMAD
NAPA VALLEY CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Appellation: Napa Valley
Production: 287 cases
Vineyard Source: Beckstoffer IV
Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Barrels: 70% new French oak
30% 1-year-old French oak
Consulting Winemaker: Paul Hobbs
TASTING NOTES
This is a dark, plush wine with an entire impression of richness and silk. The powerful, complex aroma has berries and mint slowly emerging among notes of pencil box, graphite and classy, well-integrated French oak. Dark purple in color, the wine is dense and round with youthful but very fine tannins completely knit into the core of the wine's structure, without angles or grit. The flavors are subtle and complex, with dark berries, cocoa, the very fine oak and a little herb seamlessly knit so that nothing dominates. The mouthfeel is rich, plush and seamless, extending into a long, fleshy finish. The wine is youthful and loaded with ripe tannins and flavors, promising increasing development of complex aromatics and velvety texture as the wine ages.
STEWART
2006 STEWART CELLARS
RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY PINOT NOIR
Appellation: Russian River Valley
Production: 1000 cases
Vineyard Source: Gibson Vineyard
Clone: Dijon clones D115
Rootstock: 101-14
Alcohol: 14.5%
Composition: 100% Pinot Noir
Barrels: 65% new French oak
Consulting Winemaker: Paul Hobbs
TASTING NOTES
Western Russian River Valley in the late summer of 2006 was relatively cool, often overcast and grapevines struggled to slowly ripen their fruit. True to its vintage this wine is subtle, lean and built to age. It is brilliantly ruby red in color. The delicate aroma is subtle but complex, with hints of cherries, plums and a touch of dried leaves. In the mouth the wine is seamless, with just enough acidity for juicy brightness and rich with a hint of youthful tannins. The flavors are complex and provide lots of material for development in the bottle. The wine features lovely cherry fruit, with a touch of clove and nutmeg, hints of orange peel and lingering cranberry notes in the long finish. The overall impression is of restrained freshness and intertwined youthful notes.
STEWART
2006 STEWART CELLARS
NAPA VALLEY CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Appellation: Napa Valley
Production: 1125 cases
Vineyard Source: Stagecoach (45%),
Beckstoffer IV (29%), State Lane (26%)
Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Barrels: 70% new French oak,
30% 1-year-old French oak
Consulting Winemaker: Paul Hobbs
TASTING NOTES
This is a firm, fleshy and dense Cabernet Sauvignon, with all the texture and complexity you look for in a young Napa Valley wine. It is a nearly opaque purple-ruby in color with initially closed aromas, hinting at the brooding dark notes to come. The nose opens to blackberry, black cherry and subtle pencil box aromas from very high quality French oak barrels. In the mouth the wine starts fat, fleshy and dense with French oak well integrated into the ripe grapiness. Flavors of blackberries, chocolate, coffee and hints of dark caramel are layered until the end of the long finish. The black fruit and barrel spice are balanced with proper hints of varietal sauvignon herbs. Tannins are very fine, firm but not gripping, enveloped in the fat, dense mouthfeel and only needing time to soften.