1999 Sangiovese

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."