2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Stagecoach Vineyard

Paul Hobbs pulls in small crops from his vineyards "to ensure that the wines have good intensity and concentration," and he's not afraid to make wines that are full-bodied, often with high alcohol levels: the chardonnays and pinot noirs in 2007 are in the 14.5%-14.7% range, while some of his 2006 cabernets are over 15%. "That shouldn't be an issue, if your fruit has the proper concentration," he said. "There's so much emphasis on the number on the label rather than the actual wine, and lots of people haven't even tried the wines that they're knocking as hot or out-of-whack." Indeed, "heat" didn't show up in my notes this year, but "freshness" did.

"Two thousand six started out tough, with lots of rain, which created too much vine vigor," said Paul Hobbs, "and it stayed damp, which means that we needed to keep our eyes open for botrytis." It was overall a cooler vintage than 2005, he added, which allowed for slow maturation without dangerous heat spikes. "There was a lot of rain at the very end of September and beginning of October, so it was a good idea to have your grapes in before September 29th," he told me. Two thousand five was a moderate, drawn-out season for the Napa cabernet vineyards, followed by a late, extended harvest, which began in the second week of October and carried on until the beginning of November. He expects "good but not extreme richness, smooth tannins, and very good complexity from these wines, especially compared to the 2004s."