Palladian Estate Winery
2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
California: St. Helena (Napa)
Mission Briefing
Harlan Schmarlan
Harlan Estates crafts some of the most sought-after - and most expensive wines in this country. Their Napa Valley estate Cabernet Sauvignon fetches $250 a bottle. Next door to Harlan sits the tiny hidden gem Palladian Estate Winery, where winemaker David Mahafey crafts some of our favorite Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
David Mahafey, who will personally hand sign all of your bottles of today’s wine, has outdone himself with today’s 2006 Palladian Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This wine is impeccably balanced, delicious and very elegant. Well-integrated tannins, a supple mouth feel and wonderful aromatics make for a fantastic drinking experience overall. Take that, Harlan!
Decant this elegant wine for optimal results - or swirl and sample to see how the wine improves with each spin.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Deep ruby at the core with fine purple edging. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Blackberry and plum compote, with follow-on notes of braised mission fig, dusty briar patch, subtle pine resin, bakers chocolate, sweet tobacco and mollasses. |
| Taste: | Dark, rich flavors that almost perfectly mimic the lush nose. In addition to those flavors, dried violets, black cherry juice and subtle dried fall leaves round out the palate. |
| Finish: | Plush and elegant, with dark fruit that sustains for a very long time. |
| Pairing: | Enjoy this elegant and delicious wine with a beef stroganoff or a wild mushroom risotto. |
What the Winery Says
Palladian produces approximately 500 cases per year of Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is produced in a “Bordelais” style that is drinkable with food and ages well. Each vintage is picked 3 to 4 times at harvest. Only the ripe part of a bunch is taken. Prior to loading into the stemmer crusher the berries are sorted to remove leaves and unripe fruit. The stemmer crusher is operated very gently with the aim of removing the grapes from the stem without breaking their skins. The berries are then placed into open fermenters and yeast is added. They slowly ferment with the berries splitting their skins as they expand to give us the desired flavor. The resultant crust is punched down every 4 to 6 hours until such time as the primary fermentation is completed. By using open top fermenteres and punching down, we are able to “blow off” alcohol. The juice is removed from the fermenter and placed in French Oak barrels. This is done gently, no heavy “pump overs.” We are attempting to limit the crushing of the pips. In this way we keep the tannins under control. High volume wineries do not enjoy this luxury. The juice spends two years in barrel and at least two years in glass before we release the wine for sale. This again is another luxury that a small privately owned winery enjoys. We do not have accountants pushing us to get the wine to market because of cash flow. The resulting product is a well aged wine with lowish alcohol and moderate tannins that can be drunk with a meal or put aside for some future special occasion.
- French Oak
- 2 years
- Composition
- 7% Cabernet Franc, 93% Cabernet Sauvignon
- Alcohol
- 13.9%
About the Winery
Palladian is a small private winery nestled in the Northern region of the Napa Valley. In the early 1980’s the Jones family purchased a piece of land adjacent to the Meadowood Country Club and opposite the renowned Napa Valley Reserve. In 2002 they secured a winery license and dug a cave on the hill which is part of the vineyard. Their winemaker Dave Mahaffey joined them then, updated the farming procedures and prepared the winery.
The estate is well known for its long stone wall with flowering roses in the approach. The Palladian temple on the label is also on the estate near the winery. Palladian architecture is all about perfect proportion and balance, so is our style of winemaking. All the components in the right balance. The vineyard is farmed organically, no pesticides. All of our vintages are estate grown and bottled.
Winemaker David Mahaffey
David has been making wines in the Napa Valley for 30 years, and has been the winemaker for Heron Lake since its first vintage. His primary goals are to create wines that are balanced, elegant and age beautifully. David’s philosophy is that winemaking starts in the vineyards and he describes his vineyard management of Palladian as not being farmed, but rather it is gardened (organically). He lets the fruit ripen to peak perfection and opens up the canopy to allow for even ripening. The real art of a winemaker is in the blending and David excels at this. All the wine making is conducted with as little machine intervention as possible with much of the work done by hand.
“I think of myself as a craftsman with occasional intuitional leaps into something like art,” says David. “I taught winemaking for a decade at Napa Valley College, regularly lecture about the world of wine, and consult on a variety of wine making projects. I’m the co-inventor and developer of an “ozone for sanitation” system that’s now used by over 700 wineries to save water and avoid harsh chemicals.”
~
Vineyard Notes
The vineyard lies at the base of the hills of Howell Mountain. Prior to planting the land was ripped to a depth of 5 feet producing many large rocks which were removed and have been used in the stone work around the property. The estate is currently known for its long stone wall with flowering roses in the approach to the country club and opposite the renowned Napa Valley Reserve.
~
Sustainable Farming Practices
No pesticides, with the exception of sulphur, are used so that we can claim to be “organic” or more correctly “sustainable”. Sulphur has to be used sparingly to combat mildew which can, if unchecked, destroy a grape crop.
Californian wild flowers and clover are planted between the rows. After flowering the space between the rows is mown by hand. Any weeds around the base of the vine are removed by hand hoe.