vine cliff
wine club members news
January - February 2021
Hi Club Members,
Happy New Year to all our Wine Club members. We had hoped that by now, we would have better news on the re-opening of wineries for SIP in Place programs but that does not look likely for the next few weeks until the county and the state start seeing a turn in Covid cases. We ask that you continue to social distance and wear masks so that we can all look forward to a better spring.
We do have some great 2018 vintage wines for our first club allocation of the New Year. Hopefully you are enjoying them already.
Please call us at
707-944-2019 direct or 707-944-1364 or email us
to add to your shipment or to schedule a virtual tasting for these wines with us.
Please keep safe, keep healthy and let's look forward to Valentine's and the Year of the Ox with enthusiasm and hope. And as always, thank you for your support of Vine Cliff wines.
Nell Sweeney,
Proprietress
wine club february release tasting notes
The 2018 Vintage in the Napa Valley
"The 2018 wine growing season in the Napa Valley was characterized by a mild spring with extended bloom and consistent clusters, with cool and temperate growing months without any heat spikes; the mild temperatures contributed to the slow and steady ripening of wine grapes. Harvest was unhurried with chardonnay picked as late as October. 2018 was an ideal growing season reminiscent of 2012, resulting in rich flavor intensity and tantalizing textures on the palate.”
2018 Los Carneros 'Proprietress Reserve' Chardonnay
Our Proprietress Reserve Chardonnay is blended from the very best lots in a given vintage, demonstrating the depth, complexity and balance provided by the Carneros vineyard with thirteen separate blocks and seven different clone and rootstock selections.
The 2018 Proprietress Reserve Chardonnay is full of a generous bouquet of lemon zest, green apple and honeycomb on the nose with accents of sweet light oak toast. Flavors of Bartlett pear and lemon meringue, opens to limestone and a nice long grapefruit zest finish.
2018 Oakville Estate Malbec
On the nose, crushed fresh dark berry, i.e. blackberry, raspberry with notes of warm baking spices and a touch of white miso. There’s also a subtle hint of shortbread, as well as purple floral notes suggesting lilacs as the wine opens up.
On the palate, the fresh bramble fruit continues with accents of black tea and cocoa powder punctuated with a nice long finish. There’s a solid acid backbone which lends to aging for 10 years or so, but the wine’s freshness says it’s ready for enjoyment now.
2018 Napa Valley
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2018 Vine Cliff Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a polished, yet brooding wine, with a deep garnet hue from layers of rich fruit. On the nose, aromatics of black cherry, briar, anise, sweet pipe tobacco, dark chocolate, and brined black olives; intermingle with hints of dried green herbs and sweet oak. On the palate, fine grained tannins give way to a silky and rich texture; balanced with dark black fruits of black cherry and cassis, blackberries, Satsuma plum, black tea, and mint. The wine finishes up with a bright ribbon of red rasberry.
