Cakebread Cellars 2015 Two Creeks Vineyards Pinot Noir Over 30 years ago, Jack Cakebread came to photograph the Napa Valley for a book and while there, he casually mentioned his interest in one day owning a vineyard to some family friends who had a ranch in Rutherford. When he returned home that afternoon, the phone rang and it was the family friends offering to sell their property. He headed back up to the valley that same afternoon to make his best offer, and Cakebread Cellars was born.  Today, the winery owns 13 sites totaling 982 acres, 460 of which are currently planted.  The Cakebread Website is full of interesting information…

Goldeneye Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2012 Goldeneye Winery was founded in 1996, years before the Pinot Noir boom that has reshaped the landscape of California winemaking. But the genesis for Goldeneye goes back even further. In 1990, after fifteen years of making world-class Bordeaux-varietal wines, Dan and Margaret Duckhorn embraced their growing love of Pinot Noir. They wanted to found a winery that could make a terroir-inspired expression of California Pinot Noir of equal stature to the acclaimed Merlots they had pioneered at Duckhorn Vineyards in Napa Valley. The Duckhorns knew that in both the Old and New World, the finest Pinot Noir thrives in very different conditions than Merlot.…

Cakebread Cellars 2012 Two Creeks Pinot Noir Recently I commented on Cakebread’s Chardonnay, a real gem, so I wanted to dive farther into their wine offerings. Cakebread Cellars was founded, in 1973, by Jack and Dolores Cakebread and they have an enduring commitment to quality, their belief is that life’s occasions are elevated by good people, good food, and good wine flows through everything they do. In 2013, Cakebread Cellars celebrated their 40th harvest, and the second generation of winemaking, however in 1994, Cakebread made their first Pinot Noir, and in 1995, the family purchased a 60-acre former apple orchard in Anderson Valley near Boonville and began developing this vineyard…