Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Cloud View Napa Valley Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Cloud View Napa Valley Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Following our Hemingway's Bistro dinner Saturday which featured seafood entrees wherein we bought white wines BTG - by-the-glass, we corked this bottle and brought it home to taste another day. Tonight we reopened the bottle to enjoy with grilled strip steak and baked potatoes.

This wine was produced by Linda and Leighton Taylor with fruit sourced from their Cloud View estate on Pritchard Hill (also home to Bryant Family Vineyards) that sits overlooking south eastern Napa Valley from its perch high above the Silverado Trail. Five hundred and fifty cases were produced of this limited release boutique offering. We visited the neighboring David Arthur Vineyards during our Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 2013

Winemaker Karen Turjanis crafted this proprietary red blend of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Merlot and aged it for 22 months in new French oak.

We hold a half dozen vintages of this label from 2000 to 2006. The 2006 was the last vintage bottled by Cloud View from its Pritchard Hill vineyard, as the property was purchased by Tim Mondavi, who proceeded to start building the winery for his ultra-premium Continuum project there.

This was dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, with firm concentrated structured core of brambley earthy black currant and black berry fruits with a layer of sweet caramel and dark mocha accented by tones of cassis, sweet spicy tangy oak and silky tannins on the lingering finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=417380