2017
Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red
Our 2017 Proprietary Red Napa Valley is a cellar-worthy wine that will reward patience over the next decade or more. Blackberry, leather and Spanish cedar are revealed at first swirl, complemented by subtle hints of dried sage. Dark and opaque, the concentrated, complex palate brings generous notes of summer cherries, wild blackberries, berry compote and figs, layered with Mexican chocolate and freshly scraped vanilla bean. Evolving in the glass, characteristics of plum, brown sugar and spice slowly emerge before a lengthy finish. The best is yet to come for this wine, as its focused intensity and firm, young tannins will age beautifully into sublime texture and fine, velvety tannins.
77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
- Winemaker
- Jennifer Williams
- Alcohol
- 15.2%
- Harvested Start Date
- September 22, 2017
- Harvested End Date
- October 30, 2017
- Bottled Date
- August 16, 2019
- Release Date
- September 21, 2020
Winemaking Notes
Proprietary Red is a masterful blend of Bordeaux varietals, each harvested and vinified separately in dozens of individual lots. Grape clusters were gravity-fed onto a vibrating table where two screens sifted out materials other than grapes, and we removed by hand any fruit that did not pass visual inspection. After gentle de-stemming, individual berries were hand sorted to ensure that only the best grapes were delivered to the fermentation vessels. The fruit underwent several days of cold maceration and primary fermentation before gentle basket press. We aged the wine in 100% new French oak barrels for 22 months.
The 2017 Pahlmeyer, bottled at the beginning of September, contains no Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc this year, as that fruit was smoke tainted. Only Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot made the cut this year. Very deep garnet-purple colored, it delivers provocative blueberry preserves, baked plums and black forest cake scents followed by crème de cassis, dark chocolate, cedar chest and pencil lead with a waft of camphor. Medium to full bodied, the palate delivers impressive intensity with earthy layers offering lots of interest to the intense black fruit preserves, framed by firm, grainy tannins, finishing long with loads of energy.
The 2017 Proprietary Red is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon blended with 13% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, all aged in roughly 90% new French oak. This rich, full-bodied, structured wine has lots of tannin and concentration yet stays beautifully balanced, with ample currants, graphite, truffle, loamy earth, and toasted spice-like aromas and flavors. It’s a terrific 2017 that will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and keep for 15-20 years.
