2006 Prime Cabernet Sauvignon Release!

The 2006 Prime Cabernet has arrived!

Our second vintage carries on the soon to be tradition of making well crafted restrained and elegant wines. It is our goal to make our District 4 Cabernet reminiscent of some of the great wines of Napa Valley’s past by shying away from high alcohol levels and over extraction.
By no means however, is this wine timid. The first hint that this is a serious Cabernet is the opaque ruby color in the glass. The nose is also quite impressive with aromas of black cherry, forest floor, and spice. Of course the true gratification is on the palate as additional flavors of black currant, red fruits, dried herbs, and a touch of espresso, all linger on a 20 to 30 second finish. This is a classic Cabernet profile if there ever was one. Don’t feel bad about drinking a bottle as soon as you get home, but if you have a cool place to store the wine, it should age nicely for five to seven years.

Cheers!
-Ted, Lisa and Curtis

$39/bottle $421.20/case (10% case discount)

ORDER NOW

Just beat it.

The rain, that is. I have never seen rain this hard during the harvest season in Napa. Light showers are fairly normal but a monsoon is a first.

We got over 6 inches of rain in 24 hours. This amount of water can really change things in the vineyard.

First, its too muddy to get a tractor into the field to harvest the grapes. (the grapes are actually harvested by hand but the tractor carries the fruit back to the winery).

Secondly, if the grapes stay wet too long they start to rot. Rain followed by warm and humid weather -the rot sets in and spreads much faster. Lots of people are worried. Check out the article "As rain lingers, vineyard worries mount", it sums it up pretty well.

How does this affect Prime? It doesn't! I was one of those who scrambled and begged to get the fruit harvested right before the rain fell.

My first call to my vineyard manager asking to pick as soon as possible was met with the same reaction the French Laundry would give a diner calling on Saturday for a 7PM reservation. He claimed to be so slammed with requests it would be over a week before they could pick the fruit. A few frantic calls later and my foreman Carlos was able to put together a crew and make it happen with a days notice. Well done Carlos...

The photos above show the beautiful Midoriya Hills Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, the grapes being dumped into the de-stemmer and the leftover stems after the crushed grapes are sent into their tank to ferment. A surprisingly low 4.1 tons but an excellent harvest after all...

Chardonnay Harvest

The wait is over, its in!

The Chardonnay was picked on Friday morning. The fruit was tasting great and just starting to get the golden color that comes from late season sun exposure. Here is a shot of the fruit resting in the winery and then one of the first bin getting dumped into the press.

Monday the juice will be removed from the solids and it will be ready to go to barrels for fermentation.

Waiting...

Love this symbol sign for waiting room. Pretty much whats going on at the winery right now. The Chardonnay is very close but the Cabernet is still a good two weeks away.

There is so much preparation and anticipation of harvest its hard to just be patient and let the grapes get to the ripeness we are looking for. The really good news is that the longer harvest is delayed the better the quality of the fruit (and therefore wine!).

Harvest Update- Saved by the sun

Tue
Sep 15

11 am

68° F

Precip:
10%

12 pm

71° F

Precip:
0%

1 pm

73° F

Precip:
0%

2 pm

75° F

Precip:
0%

3 pm

77° F

Precip:
0%

4 pm

77° F

Precip:
0%

5 pm

77° F

Precip:
0%

6 pm

75° F

Precip:
0%

Just looked at the latest from the weather guessers regarding tomorrow- and it looks perfect! Looks like we are not going to have to rush to harvest after all. 2009 continues to be one of the most even and long growing seasons in a long while.

It never rains in Napa Valley

This last weekend brought thunderstorms and rain to Napa Valley. This is so unusual I actually thought there were hot air balloons going overhead at 3AM. Turns out the burners they use sound a lot like thunder.

I often get asked what the rain means for this year's harvest. For Cabernet it is not really an issue. The grapes have a pretty think skin and the clusters are loose and able to dry out easily. Chardonnay however, is a more tightly compact cluster and rain can cause pretty serious bunch rot issues. I'm hoping for some warm weather and sun so the Chard can dry out and be ready for harvest in a week or so. Fingers are crossed.

Brix check

Harvest is just around the corner for us at PRIME Cellars. Last year we brought in Chardonnay at about this time. My recent visit to Berry Lane puts this year's harvest about two weeks later that last year's.

I confirmed that today when I sampled Midoriya Hills (Cabernet) in Coombsville- 22.6 Degrees Brix with a pH of 3.18. These grapes are probably going to be on the vine for another three weeks depending on the weather.

Assuming no rain in the immediate future, the slow and steady weather this year could produce a truly outstanding vintage!