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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. Green herbal note more
typical of Bordeaux than aged Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. Full body, strong broad tannins, good acidity, big finish. More angular, less fleshy than 1979. Holding up
exceptionally well.
This wine, if carefully decanted, is excellent
drinking. It still might be confused with a wine
from Bordeaux and, therefore, might be a superb gift to
that Bordeaux lover with a few 1980’s in their cellar. |
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The 1980 Vintage |
This wine is made predominately from
Cabernet Sauvignon with a few percent each of Merlot and
Cabernet Franc. The 80 vintage was a cool one marked
with wines of deep color and a lot of tannin. This
vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon for Spring Mountain was
noted for its intense tannins and its need to receive
years of bottle age to soften and develop.
The records at the winery speak of this
wine being blind tasted against 1980 First Growth
Bordeaux in 1984 by Les Amis du Vin… and being
given first place. We can see today how the wine
could be confused with a big sturdy Bordeaux and judged
superior for its power. |
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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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