Pride – Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Vertical Tasting

Jim and Carolyn Pride purchased their spectacular property on top of Spring Mountain, literally straddling the Napa/Sonoma line, in 1990, beginning with 170 acres of land, with 45 planted to vines. (Since then the property, which had previously been called Summit Ranch, has been expanded to 227 acres total, with 85 planted.) Jim Pride hired winemaker Bob Foley in 1992, and in short order Foley put the winery on the map for its powerful essence-of-mountain berry red wines from fully ripe, late-harvested grapes. (In addition to Cabernet Sauvignon, Pride also works with several other varieties, including Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Syrah, Chardonnay and Viognier.)

Thanks to the property’s reputation for opulent wines and its dramatic mountaintop position, its tasting room is one of the most popular in the region. In past years, I have occasionally had to fight my way through crowds of visitors on a Saturday morning on my way to a tasting appointment. This time I showed up on a quieter weekday for a comprehensive vertical tasting of the estate’s top bottling, the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. I tasted with Steve Pride, who took over management of the estate with his sister Suzanne following the death of their father Jim in 2004, and with Sally Johnson, who has been in charge of winemaking here since 2007.

The Pride Estate, Spring Mountain

Although the 19 vintages I tasted showed remarkable consistency, I was especially intrigued by some of the older wines that had become a bit more claret-like as they absorbed some of their massive baby fat. Clearly, consumers who have purchased recent vintages of this bottling should not be in a hurry to pull corks.

The Reserve Cabernet has always come primarily from 11 acres of vineyards planted next to the winery in 1980 on AXR rootstock, using a variant of Clone 7 that was developed by Joe Heitz in his Bella Oaks vineyard. The vineyard, the highest on the property, is planted on a 10% south-facing slope at an altitude of 2,100 feet. The rest of the fruit that goes into the Reserve Cabernet comes from a 4-acre block planted in 1994 to Clone 337. Bob Foley first bottled a Reserve Claret in 1993, then introduced the Reserve Cabernet the following year.