1995 Screaming Eagle

When real estate dynamo Jean Phillips bought this property just south of the Oakville Crossroad on the Silverado Trail in 1990, it was planted mostly to a hodgepodge of white grape varieties and came with a tiny winery. Following the discovery of phylloxera, Phillips replanted all of her vineyards (59 acres are now under vine) to cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot. Her Screaming Eagle cabernet comes from two acres of rock-strewn hillside that lie above the rest of the property. While Phillips has no current plans to increase production of this desperately sought cabernet following a recent jump from 200 to 500 cases per year, she noted that there barely another acre on the property with the potential to produce wine at the same level of quality. Phillips recently cut a tunnel into the hillside to give her the space to age her wines under cool conditions. Unfortunately, she declined to show the '96 from barrel, apparently in the belief that no one could possibly assess the quality of an unfinished wine.