Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 with Tomahawk Ribeye steak dinner

Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 with Tomahawk Ribeye steak dinner

Linda prepared one of our favorite indulgent dinners, a Tomahawk Ribeye beefsteak with baked potatoes and grilled asparagus. I pulled from the cellar a memorable classic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from a producer we visited two decades (twenty five years) ago. 

On further review, this is a replay of an earlier dinner featured in these pages two years ago and tonight’s experience was totally consistent with that latest review, so I will replay it here.

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Tomahawk Beefsteak and Paradigm Napa Cab

Tomahawk Beefsteak and Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet 

Friday night dining in, we grilled a Tomahawk bone-in ribeye beefsteak, with baked potato and asparagus, served on the deck, one of our favorite sumertime meal experiences. 

I pulled from the cellar this vintage Oakville Napa Cabernet for the occasion, Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2004.

We visited the Paradigm Oakville estate winery and vineyards and were hosted by owners Ren and Marilyn Harris back in 1999, as part of our Napa Valley Wine Experience 1999.  

We've collected this label ever since and continue to hold a decade of vintages in our vertical collection. I wrote about Paradigm in more detail when I last posted about Paradigm in March, 2019 when we tasted Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Merlot 1996.

Ren and Marilyn Harris, have deep roots in Napa Valley (pun intended); Marilyn's grandparents immigrated from Italy to Napa Valley in 1890, while Ren's family came to California in 1769. Marilyn and Ren moved to Napa Valley in the 1960's and settled into their home just east of where Paradigm sits today. 

The Paradigm estate consists of fifty acres of vineyard, the winery, two homes, a warehouse, a barn, and an acre of olive trees. 

Paradigm vineyards are planted to Bordeaux varietals Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot along with some Zinfandel.  

Paradigm Winery produced their first vintage in 1991. Our cellar holdings still include a few bottle of 1994 case from that era, as well as early releases from the 1992, '95, '96 and 1997 vintages, several 2002-2006 era vintages, and several recent vintages.

From the earliest days, Ren and Marilyn hired talented legendary winemaker, Heidi Barrett, who has been with Paradigm ever since.

Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

At eighteen years this may be at the apex of its drinking window and profile and while it has several years remaining, its not likely to improve with further aging. The fill level, foil and most importantly, the cork were in ideal condition. 

 

This is one of several bottles of this vintage we acquired at auction while early releases were acquired directly from the producer, in recent years we obtain it at Binny's, our Chicagoland super merchant. 

Our records show the we last tasted this label back in 2008 at Tra Vigne in St Helena, Napa Valley. Back then, it was a fine dining restaurant and had the outdoor deck and patio garden, which has been repurposed as a pizzeria, which is sad as we had many memorable wine dinners there. 

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, bright lively concentrated black berry and black currant fruits with a layer of cedar accented by tobacco, earth, hints of licorice and mint with a moderate tannins and tangy acidity on the finish. 

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=282068

https://paradigmwinery.com/

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Paradigm Oakville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Merlot 1996

Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Merlot 1996

Paradigm Ren Harris, Linda
and Rick, 1999

I opened this for drinking with leftover beef tenderloin from the weekend. We tasted and acquired this wine during a visit to the Paradigm Estate and vineyards with proprietors Ren and Marilyn Harris during our Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 1999. Ren and Marilyn had owned and operated various properties in Napa Valley since 1964 and purchased the Paradigm property in 1975. The '91 release was the inaugural vintage for Paradigm.

Paradigm Winery is in the Oakville appellation of Napa Valley. Owned and managed by Ren and Marilyn Harris, both of whom come from long-time Napa Valley families, they bought the 55 acres of vineyards vineyards in 1976 and began making wine in 1991. 

 

They hired winemaker Heidi Peterson Barrett in 1991 and she went on to become one of the area’s winemaking stars. The estate vineyards are planted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel and Petite Verdot. The estate makes about 6,000 cases of wine a year. 

 

The vineyards are located a couple hundred yards west of Brix Restaurant and Piazza Del Dotto accessible from the north off Dwyer Road.  

Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Estate Merlot 1996

The legendary Heidi Barrett has been winemaker at Paradigm since their first vintage back in 1991. That year they started producing their own wine from their own estate grown grapes instead of selling them to other producers.

A Napa Valley native and a graduate of UC Davis, Heidi went on to be winemaker for some of Napa Valley’s most highly-regarded and well known wineries. Her current wine projects include Amuse Bouche, Fantesca, Lamborn, Kenzo Estate, Au Sommet, Vin Perdu - as well as her own labels, La Sirena and Barrett & Barrett. She gained fame and notoriety working with Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Jones Family, Grace Family, Vineyard 29, David Arthur, Barbour Vineyards and Showket.

Winemaker Notes - Quite dark in color with deep ripe aromas of chocolate covered black cherries. Enticing fruit nose and layers of spice and toasty oak add up to a wonderful rich complex aroma profile. Flavors match the aromas in a mouth coating, textural, silky and tasty wine. This wine is loaded with aging potential.

Wine Spectator gave this 91 points and projected it would be best from 2000 through 2008.

While this is still drinking nicely at twenty four years, since our last tasting two years ago, it continues to show it age with further diminution of the balance and fruit. It has passed its prime and should be consumed over the next couple of years. 

Like the last opening, the cork was in fine condition but darkening to a tobacco color, there was ever-so-slight rust tinge color on the rim, and the fruits were starting to give way a bit to non-fruit tones of smoke, cedar, leather, tobacco and hints of creosote. It was still very enjoyable and holding on but needs to be consumed before it deteriorates too much further.

Garnet colored with the slight rust hue, medium bodied, blackberry flavors with tones of tart cherry and currant fruits, accents of cedar tobacco, leather and a hint of spice turning to herb accents on a lingering slightly tart acidic tannin finish.

RM 89 points, reduced from 91 points two years ago, aging diminution or perhaps bottles variation.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3252

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2019/03/paradigm-napa-valley-oakville-merlot.html

https://paradigmwinery.com/