Chappellet Winery

Tasting Notes: The Chappellet vineyard's unique features of rugged, rocky soil and eastern exposure give the grapes a very particular terroir, a feature Chappellet focuses on bringing out in all its wines. The 2008 Pritchard Hill Cabernet leans more in style toward Bordeaux than classic Napa Cabernet. On the nose, it boasts a complex bouquet of black cherries and currants, chocolate, espresso and menthol. The wine's flavors are rich and ripe with teasing red fruit acidity and layers of hazelnut, chocolate, clove and coffee. It is an incredibly mouth-filling drink that lingers long with notes of spice. (Date tasted 06/30/11)

Profile: The Chappellet family has been crafting wines from their Pritchard Hill estate vineyards since 1967. Spurred by the notion that Bacchus loves the hills and that mountain fruit would make superior wine, Chappellet followed the advice of legendary winemaker André Tchelistcheff and settled on the rocky eastern slopes of the Napa Valley. The Chappellets were the first to plant vineyards exclusively on high elevation hillsides and the second winery to be established in the Napa Valley after Prohibition.