S.P. Drummer Napa Valley Blair Vineyard 2002

Vineyards: This, the fourth vintage of S.P. Drummer wines, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (60%) and Cabernet Franc (40%) from the Blair Vineyard located between St. Helena and Calistoga on the Silverado Trial in Napa Valley. For nearly 20 years, grapes from this vineyard have been used in the making of premium wines such as Stags Leap, Caymus, T-Vine, Duckhorn, and Rombauer. The vineyard site, bordered by the Silverado Trail, Larkmead Lane, and Selby Creek is characterized by alluvial deposit soils. A combination of attentive winegrowing, excellent soil drainage, hot days, cold nights, provide a microclimate yielding fruit of the highest quality from this vineyard.

The Wine: The 2002 harvest, with moderate temperature extremes during the ripening period, provided a growing season that yielded wines with full ripeness and well developed, evenly balanced tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon grown on rocky sites such as the Blair Vineyard produce small berries with sweet tannins, which are important for mouth structure. The Cabernet Franc is reminiscent of exotic black .owers and has an incredible density of .avor, almost atypical for the variety. It is arguably one of the top two or three sites for Cabernet Franc in North America. The wines were fermented in open-topped tanks using punched down techniques, and aged in a high percentage of new French oak barrels.