This is a producer to watch. A husband and wife team, Will is the assistant to Thomas Rivers Brown on a whole host of projects, and the vineyard is his wife Mary's home where she grew up. This is a list I highly recommend signing up for. While I only have had two vintages of these wines, there does seem to be a signature. It will be interesting to see if this is the terroir or the winemaking, but the wines seem quite concentrated for valley floor wines. The drink more like mountain fruit. This is a 60/40 blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot . Deep ruby in color, a bit lighter at the rim. The nose has black cherries, cherries, tobacco, slight blueberries, cedar and baking spice. On the palate, this is soft and accessible yet with firm tannins. It starts out very pinpoint but by the mid-palate it broadens out. Cherries, black cherries over a fresh tobacco/earthiness. A slight bitter clove note on the finish along with plenty of fruit is very interesting. I would think about five more years until it really starts opening up and then another decade plus after that. This is actually very food friendly and will go great with roasts, stews and casseroles or even pizza and pasta.
