Hanging with the Priest

What kind of wine do you open when  you are faced with a Super Storm heading your way?  Something that can pray with you for no damage and the electric to stay on.  We were lucky, we had no damage, but the lights did go out for a day, which is nothing compared to what happened south of me.

What did we open?  A 2009 Priest Ranch Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Hanging with the Priest during a storming night we were.  Maybe that saved us.

Priest Ranch is part of the Somerston Wine Company which encompasses three wine brands, one of them being Priest Ranch.  Priest Ranch wines represent the diversity of the Somerston property. The Cabernet selected for this wine comes from 11 different hillside blocks on the ranch which is planted with 72.2 acres of Cab.

At harvest, the end of October, beginning of November 2009, the brix level clock in at 26.8. The grapes were cold soaked for 8 days then fermentation began with indigenous yeast. Only the free run juices were used and malolactic fermentation occurred in the barrel.

The wine spent 20 months is the barrel.  50% was new French Oak land 50% was neutral French Oak.  The wine was bottled in April 2011 land released in November of 2011 with the alcohol clocking in at 14.9%

This wine was a perfect pairing for the perfect storm.  Aromas of vanilla, black cherry and blackberry with hints of oak filled the glass. The wine was very nicely balanced with lots of black fruit and black current expressing itself.  A soft finish with a slight hint of black pepper. (I paired this with a beef stew I made in the crockpot, knowing if the lights went out, the generator runs that outlet)

There were 220 cases of this wine make and it retails for $40.

**I received this wine as a sample from the winery's PR firm