Dear Friends,
With great anticipation, we are offering the first of our 2021 wines: A vintage bound to become one of the best of the decade, came from a small yielding harvest of tiny, concentrated berries with perfectly balanced tannins, acidity, and exquisite fruit purity.
Our fall pre-release is offering three wines that mailing list members can order through our website here:
- Prince of Hearts Red 2021
- Prince of Hearts Rosé 2022
- Prince of Music 2021
Beginning with the stunning 2018 vintage, Katherine and I decided to elevate our Prince of Hearts Red from its ‘Super-Second’ Parker/Galloni classification into flagship territory. To do so, our winemaker Graeme MacDonald thoroughly tasted every barrel of Prince of Hearts, selecting the absolute best. The new 2018 bottling received 97 points, while the 2019 vintage received 99 points.
The remaining barrels were bottled under a new label: Prince of Music, an homage to “The Allegory of Music,” a painting from the early 19th century Austrian trilogy of cherubs displayed in our tasting room. The first two vintages of this wine were made exclusively for wholesale distribution nationwide. Members will be pleased to learn that we decided to pre-release the fantastic 2021 vintage in this September offering. The wine blends 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc. Prince of Music is a Paradise Hills estate grown wine, not made from an unknown mishmash of purchased grapes. It offers a delightful accompaniment to food at a terrific value.
Our Proprietary Red, Rive Droite and Mythicvs will be released next spring. The first comments from the barrel tasting of the Wine Advocate are promising.
“The 2021 Mythicvs has surely the potential to become the stuff of legends!” (98-100) Joe Czerwinski.
Are you planning to visit wine country? We encourage you to reserve the best tasting experience in Napa Valley. Inspired by Jeb Dunnuck’s comparison of our 2019 Cabernets to the best vintages of Château Lafite, we offer comparative tastings of Bordeaux First Growths alongside our wines. The Saint-Emilion/Pomerol tasting lines up Château Petrus, Lafleur, Cheval Blanc, Ausone, and two vintages of our Rive Droite. Our Medoc tasting focuses on Château Lafite, Haut-Brion, Margaux, and Mouton-Rothschild alongside our Proprietary Red and Mythicvs. Check with our sommelier, Director of Hospitality, [email protected] for bookings.
All the best,
Claude and Katherine Blankiet
