Tasting Notes

When we talk about wine, we talk about where we taste it on our palate, in addition to what it tastes like. Wine writers like to compare the flavor to other fruits and rather esoteric flavors such as wood, tar, tobacco, etc. Each grape flavor in our blend focuses on a particular region of the palate. This is our art. It’s what we like best about making wine! It sets us apart from the big industrial wineries, which make wine by recipe and don’t take the time to taste and blend. You can taste our art as well as our passion.

Our 2004 North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon represents boldness married to elegance. This is a Meritage-style Cabernet, with fruit-forward balance. The Cabernet flavors are mellowed and rounded...

Tasting Notes

This tall, exquisite silk-screened bottle is a delight to the eye! As Deerfield Gold is poured, your senses will be tantalized by its golden hue and lush aromas of ripe apricots, dried peaches and tropical flowers. The taste is exotic - sweet though not cloying, like dried apricots over Cream Brulée. It’s rich and sumptuous, with nutty nuances and a long, well balanced finish. Gold doesn’t just go with dessert, such as fruit tarts, Bavarian Creams and Creme Brulée - Gold is dessert!

From the Winery

Deerfield Gold is a unique wine made from over-ripe, super sweet, botrytis-engulfed grapes. Common to most growing regions, Botrytis mold (or "Noble Rot" as it's sometimes called) concentrates the sugars as it extracts water from the grapes. The super...

Tasting Notes

The real test is how this wine tastes! The most common word we hear is delicious. It has luscious forward fruit, invoking ripe strawberries and raspberries. It’s what I love most about fully vine-ripened Sangiovese. It’s got smooth tannins, both from the fruit and from barrels especially selected for this blend, and is made in the tradition of the great Brunellos of Italy. The component wines were barrel aged for 2 years before blending. The blend was then aged for an additional 1 and a half years, 3 and a half years all together. We bottled the wine in February of 2007 and released it six months later. You don’t have to age this wine. It is ready. We’ve done all the waiting for you! We hope...

Tasting Notes

Our 2006 Sauvignon Blanc is bright and crisp, yet fuller and more generous than you might expect! With a smooth mouthfeel and an uncommonly long finish, this wine truly provides an unrivaled complexity and an exceptional depth.

From the Winery

2006 was an exceptional vintage, especially for early ripening varietals like Sauvignon Blanc. The spring was warm and the summer mild. Winter rains waited until the last grapes were harvested.

Perfectly vine-ripened grapes were hand sorted and whole-cluster cold pressed. Multiple yeast fermentation started in a tank with the temperature slowly lowered to 45 degrees. The final stage of fermentation was in neutral oak barrels in our cool cave. Fermentation took five months, producing a generous amount of glycerin, which contributes to the viscous...

Tasting Notes

Broad structured, long-finishing Cabernet was enriched with Syrah. Merlot and Sangiovese added flavor and flowers at the front of the palate. Malbec added inky color and blackberry fruit. Cabernet Franc added a chocolate affect, giving the whole experience an upward, aerial lift. The same varietals from different vineyards added complexity.

The wine was made cleanly from hand sorted and gently pressed fruit, with no fining necessary. Our specialized technique assures full fruit character, soft tannins, low acid and a rich mouth feel. The component wines were aged in the caves for three years.

Click HERE to read reviews of the 2003 vintage!

From the Winery

With Red Rex, we perfect the art of blending. We didn't limit ourselves to someone else's idea of a...

Tasting Notes

We could have just called this wine Merlot. However, that would miss the point! It’s all about the blend. Good winemaking is like good cooking. What makes a reduction sauce so delicious is the combination of flavors, the layered sensations. Our Merlot Cuvée is all this in the glass. The femininity of the Merlot is emboldened by the Cabernet Sauvingon. Sangiovese elevates floral tones. The Malbec gives flavor low on the palate and the Cabernet Franc adds to the ethereal chocolate note.

Our winemaking focused the individuality of each varietal, and long barrel aging gave them wonderful texture. The blend, done by taste, married them into a harmonious, full flavored sensation, each element playing on the other, nothing out of place, every sip memorable.

The grapes came...

Tasting Notes

The fine-tuning of our techniques and continued progress on the learning curve of winemaker and grower are evident in this bottle. We are very proud of the results. The color is a deep, brilliant red with hints of blue around the edges. The nose evokes images of ripe berries drizzled with chocolate and vanilla, with a gentle cedary earthiness reminiscent of a cool evening in the forest.

The taste follows these cues, layering on additional notes of earth, leather, maple and dried roses. The overall marriage of tastes lingers in every corner of the mouth well after swallowing.

There is harmony and balance, and our 2001 Syrah is even more full and complex than the 2000 vintage that was rated 94 points. Our 2001 Ladi Syrah will...

Tasting Notes

The 2002 Super T-Rex follows the tasty inaugural 2001 vintage. The blend varies a bit from the '01, as the blends are always done by taste. The grape varieties are the same, using the Sangiovese-based Super Tuscan wines as the model. Sangiovese forms the backbone, Cabernet Franc take flavors and aromas to the upper palate, Cabernet Sauvignon takes them back into a long lingering finish and Dolcetto (an Italian blending variety and occasionally bottled on its own, in the Piedmont) adds to the lower and side palate. The result is a full taste experience - fruit up front supported by a complexity of layered aromas and flavors - without aggressiveness or ponderosity.

Super T-Rex will pair superbly with many foods, especially Mediterranean cuisine. It is very enjoyable...

Tasting Notes

The 2003 Jemrose Pinot Noir is a bit more aromatic, more fruit forward and a bit heavier than the 01 or 02 vintages. It's an evolutionary change that reflects the changing balance in California Pinots from the Burgundian style to the more fruit centric California style.

The 2003 Jemrose is very aromatic, with pronounced floral aromas. It is full and round on the palate, with forward fruit that is dominated by that haunting Pinot Noir flavor. We often pair it with grilled salmon and seared tuna. It goes equally well with chicken, steak and lamb. We've done Winemaker Dinners where the Jemrose Pinot was paired with a complex salad. Just use lemon juice in the dressing instead of vinegar, and the wine and salad will compliment each...

Tasting Notes

This is an elegant Chardonnay made in the French Burgundy style rather than the typical California style. There are layers of flavor without edges or gaps. It's fresh without being tart, will age well, and compliments food. This is one Chardonnay you won't have to finish drinking before the meal.

From the Winery

Sonoma Valley is our favorite appellation for Chardonnay. It has the perfect combination of soil and weather to grow perfectly balanced Chardonnay grapes. The soil is volcanic, with elevated levels of trace minerals, and relatively shallow soils without too much vigor. The weather is cool at night, often overcast or foggy in the morning, and warm in the afternoons, between 75 and 90°F in the summer. It rains a lot in the...