Spring Mountain Vineyard
2008 Elivette 2005 Elivette
Continuing on with my Spring Mountain Vineyard visit, see my November 12, 2019 review of their 2006 & 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon and its history. Spring Mountain Vineyard is an 845-acre estate on the eastern slopes of Spring Mountain in Napa Valley. Only 225 acres of the estate are planted to vine, representing 135 discrete hillside vineyard blocks with many soil types, exposures, and microclimates. A substantial portion of the vineyard is planted in densities of over 4,000 vines per acre and trained to the ancient gobelet form, a vertical method invented by the Romans. Originally four contiguous 19th century vineyards, Miravalle, Alba, Chevalier and La Perla are now one vineyard producing exclusively estate grown wines.
Elivette, their signature wine, captures the diversity of Spring Mountain’s complex vineyard. The austere mountain soils yield fewer than two tons of grapes per acre, resulting in wines that reflect intense varietal character, deep color, supple tannin structure and bright acidity. In order to display the unique qualities of each vineyard block, the fruit from each is kept separate for fermentation and barrel aging, selecting only the most elegant wines from specific barrels of the classic Bordeaux varietals, then blended to become the finest expression of Spring Mountain Vineyard.
Below is yours truly, holding a 2005 Elivette, alongside Spring Mountain Vineyard Director of DTC, Keith Baker.
Spring Mountain Vineyard also have a couple of “Wine Clubs” and additionally offering some “Library Wines” which provide a tremendous insight on how their wines develop year to year. I recommend to check out their availability, click this link “WineClubLink” to go to their site and join a club! If you find your travels to Napa, I recommend a visit to their exquisite Napa winery.
Keep checking back with SippingFineWine.com as I recently made a trip to Napa during 2019 harvest, visited several wineries, tasted some great wines, and met some outstanding individuals. I’ll continue to report on my discoveries.
Spring Mountain Vineyard 2008 Elivette
A blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot & 1% Malbec, aged for 22 Months in new French oak, 1,960 cases made. Deep Ruby with developing aromas of black berry fruits, sweet spice and notes of blossom and oak. On the palate pronounced flavors of blackberry, black cherry and black plum, almost jammy, some sweet spice and cacao notes. Fine structured soft tannins, well integrated, long finish, ending with fresh fruit character, just starting to add some leather, nutty notes and oak. Outstanding, drinking well, beginning to develop some bottle age, but has a decade to go! Tasting Sample.
Spring Mountain Vineyard 2005 Elivette
A blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot, 7% Cabernet Franc & 5% Merlot, aged for 22 Months in new French oak. Deep Ruby with pronounced aromas of red and black fruits and notes of oak, rich cacao, spice with earthy mineral. On the palate flavors of blackberry, raspberry and ripe fig with some leather, tobacco, pepper and nutty earthy tones. Fine developed chewy tannins, good structure, long finish, ready to drink, has nicely developed tertiary flavors and aromas with great mouthfeel ending with earthy fruit character. Wonderful! Outstanding! Tasting Sample.
Cheers!