1998 Cabernet Franc

This estate at the top of Spring Mountain (the vines are located on both sides of the Napa/Sonoma line) recently finished an extensive series of tunnels and a new vinification facility, giving it the capacity to expand production to about 18,000 cases. "But the modest fruit set of recent vintages hasn't allowed us to grow beyond 12,000 cases yet," said winemaker Bob Foley, who lost most of the first release of his own Napa Valley Claret (Robert Foley Vineyards) in a major fire last June at the old Hans Kornell facility, where Pride was previously made. Foley has long demonstrated a magic touch with Pride mountaintop fruit, and his performance in 1998, a year that was especially difficult for red Bordeaux varieties grown at high altitude, is nothing short of miraculous. The harvest here began on November 7 and lasted into early December. "We face two challenges at Pride," noted Foley, "keeping the wines bright and keeping them from being hard." All of the Pride reds go into new barrels at the outset, but they don't necessarily remain in new wood during their entire levage said Foley. Foley describes 1999 as "a fun vintage. The berry flavors would have been red rather than black if I had picked the fruit a few days earlier, before it was completely ripe." For the estate's limited reserve bottlings, Foley looks for "large-scaled, round, lusty wines, with big extract and power."

Winemaker Bob Foley describes 1998 as "the highest-anxiety growing season ever" for this winery on Spring Mountain. The harvest for Pride cabernet extended into early December—but then this estate picks into November in most years. Still, the fruit eventually ripened, and may even have benefitted from the long hang time, judging by the intensity shown by these wines in early March. Foley enjoys a strong reputation, yet I feel he's still somewhat underrated. The wines he crafts for Pride (and for Paloma and, beginning in '98, for his own label) are essence-of-mountain-fruit with their vibrant, sappy, superconcentrated aromas and flavors of dark berries; yet they manage to avoid the rustic, tough tannins that make so many similar mountain wines rough going in their youth. Foley's wines will never be mistaken for Bordeaux, but they are utterly compelling examples of ripe California fruit. The selection for Pride's reserve wines is typically for sheer extract and thickness, according to Foley. "Jim Pride basically tells me to pick my favorite lots; he says ‘if nobody wants them we'll drink them’." The reserve wines are bottled about six months later than the regular releases.