1997 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Santa Cruz Mountains

The 1997 harvest was early and the crop was huge, at least by the standards of this estate. (It must be noted that a "huge" chardonnay crop here is barely in the three-tons-per-acre range.) "It was a trouble-free season," notes winemaker Jeffrey Patterson, who admits that production levels for the estate chardonnay were nearly 60% higher than the previous record (1991). In comparison, 1996 produced a much smaller crop, especially for cabernet. "During the heat wave in mid-August of '96, the vines sucked the liquid out of the grapes and the sugars went up," he explained. "Then, when temperatures cooled, the process reversed itself. Ultimately, the wines turned out plush and fat." Following the '97 harvest, the Pattersons pulled out the last of their old pinot noir vines, planted in 1942; there will be a special old-vines bottling as well as the regular pinot in '97.