CURRENT OFFERINGS
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$150.00 each$0.002021 Brothers Blend Proprietary Red Blend
86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot (Ellman Estate Vineyard)
The 2021 Brothers Blend is dark, dense, and aromatic, with rounded tannins and great length. It shows notes of cassis, dark chocolate, black cherry, and baking spices. It is quite broad and expansive on the palate, and the finish is smooth and lengthy. While this wine is intended to be enjoyed early in its life, it will certainly age for many years to come in the cellar, and those who wait will be rewarded with added layers of complexity and a softer, more polished texture. The 2021 growing season was interesting and enjoyable. An early spring with very little rain led to vines that were balanced and healthy,. Warm temperatures in the summer meant accelerated phenolic development in the fruit, and a condensed growing season. Organic farming and thoughtful handwork in the vineyard helped to add life to the vineyard. Harvesting in early September, we were able to capture both the freshness and the richness of the fruit as the small berries were packed with structure and tannin.
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$250.00 each$0.002021 Jemma Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
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$280.00 each$0.002018 Jemma Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
100% Cabernet Sauvignon (100% Ellman Estate)
Focusing solely on the Ellman Estate vineyard, the perennial elegance of Jemma reigns supreme in the 2018 vintage. With a deep ruby hue, our 2018 Jemma gives way to a comingling of sweet and savory notes. Copious aromatics of freshly picked violets, cassis and black cherries emanate from the glass, with a soupçon of espresso, sassafras and dry-aged salumi. Effusive on the palate, it has a lush profile of a myriad of bramble fruits, like a billowing whiff from jostling a crate of blackberries, coupled with hints of cardamom, allspice and cacao. Muscular and weighty, the dark fruit character is precisely framed with focused yet velvety tannins and an enduring, lengthy finish. Aptly paired with a classic Beef Wellington or maitakes on the grill.
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$250.00 each$0.002021 The Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Each year we produce a small production of Cabernet Sauvignon that we feel captures the spirit of our estate vineyard in the rolling hills below Atlas Peak. These eroded volcanic soils yield wines that are very dark in color, intensely aromatic, varietally expressive, and loaded with soft tannins. During harvest, and even before, we identify those vineyard blocks that are destined to give us the purest expression of the vineyard. We keep these parcels separate during fermentation, and during the aging process, we continue to focus our attention on individual barrels from these lots that most excite us. In the end, we have a small bottling of pure Cabernet Sauvignon that we are very proud to share.
In 2021, Mother Nature was very good to us. While it was the continuation of a multi-year drought in the Napa Valley, our vines were able to find the resources they needed to ripen a limited but balanced and intense crop. By harvesting at night, and carefully sorting the fruit in the winery, we were able to start the winemaking process with pristine raw ingredients. Careful handling of the grapes during fermentation and maceration, as well as aging of the wine for twenty months in new French oak barrels, helped the wine to gain richness and polish. Bottled without fining or filtration, the wine is dark and generous, with notes of black cherry, wild blackberry, flint, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The palate impression is deep, penetrating, and silky, with notable length. This is one of the most exciting wines we have made from the property that will surely age for many years in the bottle.
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$125.00 each$0.002023 Caryn Renae Sauvignon Blanc
In the eastern reaches of our estate vineyard near Soda Canyon, a small creek has formed a lovely alluvial deposit over the course of millennia. It is in this part of the property where we planted white grapes, as they are perfectly matched to these soils. The grapes are harvested when they are high in acidity but relatively low in potential alcohol. The juice is pressed whole-cluster and fermented in a combination of new, neutral, and stainless steel barrels. This technique, as well as aging on the lees for several months, gives the wine a highly expressive character while adding weight and length.
Our newest vintage of Sauvignon Blanc is an explosion of citrus aromas and flavors from the get-go. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Musquée, the wine is full of energy, crisp acidity, and bright fruit and floral aromas. 2023 was a very interesting growing season. Coming on the heels of several drought years, this vintage started with near record-breaking rainfall in the winter and a cool spring, which led to a relatively late start to the growing season. Once they got going, the vines were able to grow strong canopies and developed quite a generous crop. The summer continued in this cool trajectory, meaning that the grapes developed slowly, retained a remarkable amount of natural acidity, and hung on the vine well into the fall. We were blessed with an autumn full of sunshine, and even though we harvested later than usual, the grapes arrived at the winery in beautiful condition. The 2023 Caryn Renae, just bottled, shows fragrant notes of grapefruit, Meyer lemon, kumquat, and verbena. Indeed, the citrus descriptors just keep coming. On the palate, the acid rides high on the flavor profile, with a subtle saline note, like ocean air on a summer day. This wine will surely bring happiness to the table, or to the poolside, or wherever it is enjoyed.
