2002
Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red
75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot, 1% Malbec
- Winemaker
- Erin Green
- Alcohol
- 15.5%
- Harvested Start Date
- September 12, 2002
- Harvested End Date
- October 13, 2002
- Bottled Date
- April 28, 2004
- Release Date
- October 1, 2005
Winemaking Notes
Harvested by the end of October from hand picked lots, the whole berries were fermented in short open-topped stainless steel tanks, cold soaked and using native yeasts. The wine then continued through malolactic fermentation in 100% new French oak barrels for 18 months and was bottled neither fined nor filtered.
The nearly perfect 2002 Proprietary Red Wine is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and the rest dollops of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. This exotic, full-throttle, nearly over-the-top red wine’s intensity, richness and smoky coffee notes intermixed with notions of chocolate, graphite, and jammy blackberry and black currant fruit ooze from the glass. This rich, concentrated beauty tastes more like a top-notch, young Right Bank Bordeaux from a vintage such as 2009 than a wine dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon. With stunning purity and awesome potential, it can be drunk now or cellared for another two decades.
Pahlmeyer has long been one of my favorite wineries for both their red wines and Chardonnays. Both the 2002 red cuvees, made by Erin Green for proprietor Jayson Pahlmeyer, are performing fabulously. These wines typically have tremendously long lives, as evidenced by some older vintages in my cellar that are continuing to age beautifully.
The 2002 Proprietary Red reveals an inky/purple color as well as a sexy, hedonistic smorgasbord of smoked herbs, wood embers, melted chocolate, blackberries, cassis, camphor, and toast. This heady, full-bodied, voluptuously textured 2002 is a pedal-to-the-metal, classic Napa Valley red filled with richness, intensity, and purity. It is impossible to ignore or resist. A candidate for “Proprietary Wine of the Vintage,” this beauty should be drunk over the next 14-15 years.
Full medium ruby. Brooding, medicinal aromas of black fruits. Sweet, chewy and deep, with flavors of dark berries, violet, minerals and game freshened by harmonious acidity. Finishes long and ripe, with fine, sweet, building tannins.
Dark, ripe and supple, with an enticing mix of complex flavors built around ripe plum, currant and blackberry. Hints of spice and cedar fold in nicely, too, and the tannins are pleasantly smooth and agreeable.
Displaying extraordinary aromatics, this shows a wealth of flavor, finesse, richness and grace. Pure, sleek cherry, berry and pomegranate notes are woven together with enticing floral scents. Keeps gaining depth and dimension without weight. Drink now through 2022.
