Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/348953
78 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 Black Cat Vineyard 2010 Family Cuvée, Coombsville, Napa Valley ($48) This sumptuous blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Syrah is a fine ambassador for the region. It showcases the area's common thread of plush tannins and mesmerizing bouquet. Chocolate- laden red fruit and caramelized blueberry are side-by-side with subtle oak notes that smell and taste like cinnamon tarts. Memorable. Edict 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon, Collinetta Vineyard, Coombsville, Napa Valley ($120) Pretty and perfumed with lush and generous fruit—slightly spiced and white peppered. Peach-pit bitters come through this showy red. The Collinetta Vineyard is just across the road from the prestigious Faust winery. Marita's Vineyard 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville–Napa Valley ($150) Well-deep in fragrance and texture: creamy black berries enveloped in beef blood (think: iron) and saddle leather. The vineyard is set on a hillside slope with well-drained rocky and stone/gravel soil. 300 cases made by Bulmaro Montes, former VP of Operations for Joseph Phelps Vineyards. Prix 2009 Reserve Syrah, Rancho Wieruszowski Vineyard, Coombsville—Napa Valley ($66) A jet of lush dark fruit is the calling card of this layered Syrah: chocolate on white pepper on salted caramel on ripe red raspberry. Prix is a reserve tier from Hagafen Cellars. Rocca Family Vineyards 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, Collinetta Vineyard, Coombsville–Napa Valley ($95) Tight and concentrated – perfumed with lavender. Elegant, feminine-powered and perfumed with blue flowers – the graphite notes make up the underwire bra that Mother Earth wears to the party. Sciandri 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($48) A Coombsville wine but bottled and labeled prior to AVA approval. Impressive from its pencil lead and basil-savory nose to its Worcestershire/balsamic flavor profile; the parade of big, black fruit floods the palate, but is held in check by dry tannins that hold up a "yield" sign. Aged 24 months in French oak. Silverado Vineyards 2010 Merlot, Mt. George Vineyard, Napa Valley ($35) Mt. George Vineyard in Coombsville is the site of one of the first grape plantings in Napa Valley in the 19th century. The deep soils on its slopes are Coombs gravelly loam and Forward gravelly loam. Silverado calls the vineyard the "spice box" of their estate. The wine tastes like pickings off a ripe summer fruit stand—driven by chocolate side notes and stained with tobacco. Bordeaux-like in its bracing acidity and clay-and-mineral mouthfeel. " We did not want to re-think the name. We are Coombsville."