Hendry Vineyard Napa Valley RED

Each year, we pick each of our small blocks of Bordeaux varieties, ferment them individually and then barrel age them for approximately one year. After the first year of barrel aging, George Hendry creates the final blend. His aim is to make a wine with a concentration, complexity and potential for aging, but with more subtle tannic structure than a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine.

48% Cabernet Sauvignon (Block 8), 13% Petit Verdot (Block 15), 13% Cabernet Franc (Block 26), 13% Malbec (Block 14), 13% Merlot (Block 13)

These wines were aged for a total of 18 months in French oak barrels, approximately 70-75% of which were new. In a reversal of his typical strategy, George relied on Cabernet for the base of this blend, at 48%, with the remaining varieties in equal percentages at 13% each.

Opaque purple-ruby. Cabernet is prominent in the pleasant aromatics, as expected, leaning toward dark fruit, with the spice, smoke and cedar of the oak underpinnings just detectable behind round, dried-blueberry-like purple fruit. On the palate, tannins are soft at first, gradually building.