SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:

Simply Delicious! That pretty much sums up today’s wine. The 2005 vintage in California was exceptional for Cabernet Sauvignon and this wine is fully representative of this great vintage.

SECRET SAVINGS ALERT:

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Mission Codename: Great Expectations

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Acquire a limited allocation of Ehret’s first Cabernet Release, ‘The Beginning’.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Ehret Family Winery

Wine Subject: 2005 ‘The Beginning’ Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker: Nick Goldschmidt

*_Backgrounder*_:

The Ehret Family Winery produces small, specialty lots of handcrafted wines from the renowned Bavarian Lion Vineyards. The vineyard is also a prized source of fruit for a very select group of wineries that also make award-winning wines from the extraordinary fruit grown there.

Sonoma County’s Knight’s Valley sits at the easternmost edge of the County, far from the cooling of the Pacific Ocean. The fact that this high benchland AVA (American Viticultural Area) gets so much hot sun during the growing season makes it the perfect region for growing richly extracted Bordeaux varietals.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Dense and dark purple, thick with color and almost black through its inky core. As the color reaches the edge of the glass, hints of garnet and violet barely shine through. When swirled even and tightly spaced medium-thin legs of varying speeds descend to the wine below.

Smell – Medium in intensity and very approachable, this wine leads off with classic and earthy Cabernet aromas that include tons of rich and ripe black and red fruit. Complex layers of dark cocoa, toasted vanilla oak, sweet tobacco and subtle herbal and spice notes round out and beg for a sip.

Feel – Soft and plush in the initial attack, this velvet smooth wine has well developed and integrated tannins. Soft but balanced acidity and dark minerals glide over the palate of this expansive wine.

Taste – Plush and rich with flavors of soft and ripe black and red berries, red currant and cherry. Hints of chocolate cocoa, savory herbs, sweet spice, sweet cigar tobacco and black olive rounds out the lovely flavor profile of this wine.

Finish – Medium-long in length with this wine’s fruit and other complex flavors fading gently and slowly in unison with the soft tannins and balanced acidity.

Conclusion – The 2005 Ehret Family Winery ‘The Beginning’ Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is soft and elegant with layers of well integrated complexity. Truly representative of the Cabernet from the very highly regarded 2005 vintage, this wine is drinking perfectly right now and will instantly appeal to those who like there Cabernet to show finesse as opposed to kicking you in the mouth.

Mission Report:

Below is a recap of our original briefing when we featured Ehret’s Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon.

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Nick Goldschmidt

DATE OF BIRTH: April, 1962

WINEMAKER BIO: Born and educated in New Zealand, Nick Goldschmidt’s career began in 1982 with a research position at the New Zealand Lincoln University where he graduated with Distinction in Horticulture. Nick went on to specialize in viticulture studies at Wagga Wagga, and oenology at the highly acclaimed Roseworthy program, at Adelaide University in South Australia. During his time as a student Nick worked at noted wineries such as Kumeu River, Coopers Creek and Babich. In 1989, after 18 months of winemaking in Australia, New Zealand, California, and South America; including his first harvest in Chile as winemaker for Calitera, Nick returned to California with an amazing range of winemaking experiences.

In 1990, Nick and his wife Yolyn settled down in Healdsburg, California, as Simi’s Associate Winemaker. Nick was promoted to Chief Winemaker 1991 and became Vice President and Chief Winemaker in 1996. Nick spent a total of 13 years at Simi and was one of the driving forces that brought the Simi Reserve Cabernet program to notoriety. In May of 2003 Nick accepted the position of Executive Vice President and Winemaker at Allied Domecq Wines USA. During recent acquisitions Nick has been named Vice President and Executive

Domestic Winemaker for Beam Estates wine portfolio – As winemaker for Beam estates, Nick oversees the production of Clos Du Bois, Buena Vista, Haywood, Garcia, Atlas Peak, William Hill, Gary Farrell and Jakes Fault. In the global arena his work takes him to Mexico, Spain, Argentina and New Zealand where he is involved with blends being imported into the domestic market as well as several domestic brands that are being exported into other global markets.

In 1998 Nick and Yolyn Goldschmidt, established their own line of wines with the release of Goldschmidt Vineyards. The goal of the company was to produce two distinct brands of fine wines, Forefathers and Goldschmidt Vineyards; with the idea of focusing on site specific winemaking from great vineyard sites from around the world. Having produced so many world class wines from around the globe, Nick knew exactly which vineyard sites he would choose to make his wines from.

Under the Forefathers brand Nick and Yolyn produce a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, an Australian Shiraz, and a California Cabernet Sauvignon. For the Goldschmidt Vineyard brand they have created two distinct Cabernet Sauvignons, one from Alexander Valley in Sonoma and the other from Oakville in Napa Valley. The wines Nick and Yolyn Goldschmidt produce are all single vineyard, 100% varietal, handcrafted, small production artisan wines.

Currently, Nick makes wines for Ehret Family Wine. Today’s 2006 Hillside Reserve Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a 93 Points and Editor’s Choice from Wine Enthusiast, is crafted by Nick from the winery’s world-famous Bavarian Lion vineyard in the Knight’s Valley at the Northern end of the Napa Valley, in Sonoma County.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The vineyards in Knights Valley can be seen in this satellite photo.