Spring / Summer 2008
    Notes on the 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
    Evolution of A Napa Valley Wine
    Cabernet for Everyone!
    Cabernet Sauvignon Timeline

Evolution of a Napa Valley Wine

When Joe Phelps founded his winery in 1973, he initially produced three wines: Pinot Noir, Johannisberg Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon. It did not take long for the popularity of

Banca Dorada Vineyard, Rutherford Bench

Cabernet to take hold, and JPV joined the standard-bearers of the varietal with the release of the 1975 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, a blend of only three vineyards: Reese, Marsten and Stanton. The wine was produced from a long, cool growing season, harvested from vineyards established with a simple two-wire trellis, picked at 22.5° Brix, fermented for only six days, and aged 14 months in Nevers oak barrels. The results were so delicious, compelling and age-worthy that we poured it during our 25th anniversary road trip in 1998.

Enter 2005, a long cool growing season producing wines described in Robert Parker’s December 2006 Wine Advocate as “more European-styled than any other vintage this
century. Lower alcohols, brighter acidities and more streamlined, tannic structures are the rule of thumb…”

By today’s standards, this vintage would appear a throwback of earlier times. But is it? Has our winegrowing advanced since 1975? Absolutely!

The most important transformation has been in the vineyard. JPV now farms over seven different vineyards – from the Coombsville area in the southeast corner of Napa Valley to
our home ranch in St. Helena – providing the foundation upon which we source and create
this wine.

In addition, a completely new architecture supports the vine: greater vine density, improved trellis systems providing vertical shoot positioning, clean rootstock and clonal selections matched to the specific vineyard site, and a mounting effort towards biodynamic farming. All of this emphasizes improved fruit quality with more pronounced regional attributes by literally reducing the weight each vine carries to ripen its crop.

Combined with smaller lot fermentations extending beyond 30 days, gentle extraction of press wine using basket presses, 100% oak aging for 18 months and bottling without filtration, you’ll find a wine with great depth of flavor and regionality, firmly anchored in the past yet presenting a stunning California Cabernet from the 2005 vintage.