Hendry Ranch Wines
2006 Napa Valley Red Wine
Red Blend •Hendry Estate Vineyard
California: Napa Valley
Mission Briefing
Oh, Hendry!
The 2006 Napa Valley Red Wine, from our great friends at Hendry Winery is a big, bold, delicious, flavor-packed Bordeaux Blend. Sourced from the winery’s own lovingly tended estate vineyards, this wine really impressed our tasting panel.
Give the wine time to breathe, after opening, and you’ll have a softer and more elegant experience with the wine. On opening, edges are a bit hard, but the wine really opens up and softens as it breaths. We had fun, spinning the wine in our glasses, and sipping every few minutes. The more we spun, the more we loved this wine.
Pair this very highly recommended wine with bolder dishes. Drink now, or cellar for up to ten more years!
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Darkest Bordeaux purple when viewed side on; the wine’s inky and dark core lightens to garnet at the edge. Spin the wine and take note of how it stains the glass before it coalesces into tight clusters of skinny tears. |
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| Smell: | Dark and spiced, with generous blackberry, burnt raisin and dark oak. As the wine airs out, look for black cherry, leather, dried violets and subtle pencil shavings. |
| Taste: | Darkest cherry, overripe blackberry, grilled mission fig, dark plum, spice, oak and black licorice all work in equal proportion, driving big flavor from beginning to end. |
| Finish: | Very long and flavor-filled, with black fruit and oak sustaining beyond the spice and licorice components. As the wine dries the palate and the wine takes on a chewy feel, flavors tail off slowly, leaving behind oak and flinty minerals. |
| Pairing: | A hearty Irish beef stew, served with carrots, onions, and golden potatoes. |
What the Winery Says
Like its predecessors, the 2006 Hendry Red initially reveals attractive, spicy oak and just a whiff of low-toned purple fruit. The wine is strikingly dense and purple, coating the surface of the glass, due to high percentages of Malbec and Petit Verdot. Silky and full on the entry. The dense palate weight is detectable, even when first opened. With air, the mid-palate continues to expand, to include powdered cocoa and deep berry, accented with pleasant baking spices. Aromatically elusive and complex. A full mid-palate and gradual transition to a fine-grained tannin structure, make this a wine that happily pairs with moderately rich dishes, yet is soft enough to enjoy on its own.
Vineyard Notes The Hendry Vineyard is located on bench lands west of the town of Napa. The vines grow on thin, stony clay soil between 200 and 300 feet above sea level. Morning fog and strong afternoon breezes from San Pablo Bay moderate the climate.
- Winemaker
- George Hendry
- Appellation
- Napa Valley
- Vineyard
- Hendry Estate Vineyard
- Varietal Composition
- 42% Malbec (Block 14), 26% Petit Verdot (Block 15), 21% Cabernet Sauvignon (Block 8), 7% Merlot (Block 13), and 4% Cabernet Franc (Block 26).
- Cooperage
- Aged for 18 months in French Oak Barrels, 56% new
- ABV
- 14.4%
About the Winery
Hendry Ranch is a small estate winery located in the south-western Napa valley. There has been vineyard on this property for more than 140 years, and we have been farming here for nearly half that time. The lessons learned in more than 75 harvests provide us with a high level of knowledge and a unique connection to the land. As our knowledge grows, our vineyard blocks evolve, and we get closer to understanding the full potential of our vineyard.
Winemaker George Hendry
With his parents and brother, George moved to Napa in 1939 at the age of two. He grew up on the ranch and learned to tend the goats, the cows, the prune orchard and the grapevines. He completed his undergraduate degree at U.C. Berkeley in 1959 and after two years in the navy, completed a masters degree in 1963. Following graduation, George began working for a company called the Cyclotron Corporation.
Over the next 40 years, at various companies including his own, George distinguished himself as a cyclotron designer. Many of his designs and innovations are in use in cyclotrons and hospitals around the world.
George has lived on the ranch and tended its grapevines his entire life. Whether growing grapes, making Hendry wines, or designing cyclotrons, George applies the same tenacity and ability to apply fundamental concepts. His detailed approach to wine growing has earned him a reputation, and is reflected in our vineyard and our wine.
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Vineyard Notes
The Hendry Ranch is composed of 203 acres of land in the foothills of the Mayacamas mountains, north-west of the city of Napa. We are one mile from the Carneros growing region to the south, and adjacent to the Mount Veeder appellation, just within the western border of the Oak Knoll viticultural area. Our vineyard represents a transitional climate zone between the southern regions of the Napa Valley which are closer to the cooling influences of the San Francisco bay, and the northern areas, which are farther from the bay and less influenced by its frigid waters.
Our 117 acres of vineyard sit on gently sloping terrain between 160 and 200 feet in elevation. Thin stony soils and a moderate climate allow the production of a wide range of varietals. Most of this property has belonged to the Hendry family since 1939.
At Hendry, we stress the importance of the vineyard, and we devote much of our time to understanding its variation on small scales. Combinations of soil, climate, varietal and clone are critical, and for this reason, we have divided our vineyard into 50 different blocks, each managed separately. To us, every block is a learning experience that teaches us about interactions among these variables, and how they influence fruit composition and wine quality. Small changes in any of them can have dramatic effects on the wine.
The vineyard is divided into 49 different blocks. Each represents a unique combination of soil type, vine vigor, microclimate, rootstock, clone and varietal. The nature of our soils and our location in the valley allow for the production of 11 different varietals, and more than a dozen wines.
Many of our wines are block designated, whether sourced from a single block, or combinations of blocks with complementary characteristics. The vineyard is constantly evolving, with vines ranging from newly planted rootstock to more than 40 years old.