Five Cabernet Sauvignon clones are planted around the estate, each one giving us a unique aroma and flavor profile to use when assembling our blends. The 2005 Private Stock - 16 Rows, is a blend of the most intense, concentrated cabernet lots, selected from our fourteen individual vineyard blocks, ranging from steep, hillside terraces to flat, red, rocky soil. It is the product of the challenges the vines face growing in our poor estate soil. This struggle leads to wine with the incredible flavor and concentration for which the Oakville appellation is renowned.

The 2005 growing season was cool and long. Yields were higher than in 2004, leading us to perform more crop thinning to keep the vines in balance. The cool weather and ideal conditions allowed additional hang time for ripening and excellent flavor development. A long controlled harvest started in mid-October.

Gentle fruit handling, small batch fermentations, and attention to detail are the foundations of our winemaking philosophy . Our grapes are hand-picked in the cool early morning, making the fruit less susceptible to damage during processing. Individual vineyard blocks are triple sorted, destemmed, and placed into small stainless steel fermentation tanks. For the 2005 vintage, the grapes were cold soaked for two days before the must was warmed and fermentation initiated. Smaller than usual berries, coupled with low juice-to-skin ratios gave us excellent flavor and color. To ensure the extraction of complex flavors and concentration of fruit, without the releasing harsh tannins, we used a warm, fast fermentation, combined with a relatively short maceration time. Our 2005 Private Stock – 16 Rows blend is 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot. The wine was aged in Chateau style French oak barrels for 18 months prior to bottling.

Harvest dates: October 13th ~ November 5th, 2005
Growing region: Oakville, Napa Valley
Cases produced: 317 cases
Bottling date: May 10th, 2007