Blankiet: Proprietary Red 1999-2012
Rumor has it that in early 1996 if Christian Moueix had known that the property just above his Dominus Estate on the west side of Yountville was available for purchase, he would surely have snapped it up. It turns out the story was not apocryphal. In a perfect case of preparation meeting opportunity, Claude Blankiet got there first. Blankiet, a native Burgundian who was in the textile business in Texas at the time, had been searching for prime vineyard land in the western hills above Yountville for three years. “Then one day our real estate broker told us that he had secured a 24-hour hold for us to look at some land, which was essentially three knolls. We flew from Texas on a rainy January day in 1996, walked the land, and signed a contract on the spot.”
Blankiet named the property Paradise Hills Vineyard, explaining that Christian Moueix had often told the press that the central avenue of his Napanook vineyard was the gateway to paradise. He and his wife Katherine planted their first vineyard that year to a Cabernet Sauvignon clone that came from Lafite-Rothschild. Blankiet met winemaker Helen Turley and her husband John Wetlaufer in 1997, after having become one of the earliest clients for their Marcassin wines, and together they decided to bring in star viticulturalist David Abreu to plant additional acreage in ’97, ’98 and ’99.
Multimedia: A Conversation With Claude Blankiet
Blankiet’s three hillocks feature different soil types, all of volcanic origin, while the acreage below his winery is alluvial soil from erosion off the mountain. Roughly two-thirds of the vineyard acreage faces east, and most of the rest, including the best block of Cabernet Sauvignon, faces southeast or south.
Blankiet’s maiden 1999 release, made by Turley, was 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the 1996 planting. The wine was aged in 100% new heavy-toast Taransaud barriques, but by 2003 and 2004 Turley had started mixing in some medium-toast barrels. More recently, Blankiet has reduced the percentage of Taransaud barrels in his flagship Cabernet to about 70%, adding barrels from other coopers like Ermitage, Boutes and Jarnac (located in Cognac). And the percentage of new oak is now typically 90% or 95% and may go lower in the future, especially for Blankiet’s top Merlot-based blend, the Rive Droite.
Blankiet’s Medieval-inspired castle perched atop Paradise Hills
Rumor has it that in early 1996 if Christian Moueix had known that the property just above his Dominus Estate on the west side of Yountville was available for purchase, he would surely have snapped it up. It turns out the story was not apocryphal. In a perfect case of preparation meeting opportunity, Claude Blankiet got there first.
