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2005 Napa Valley Zinfandel
2005 Brown Vineyard Zinfandel
2005 Howell Mountain Zinfandel
2006 St. Helena Zinfandel
2005 Late Harvest Zinfandel
2006 Napa Valley Primitivo
2005 Napa Valley Petite Sirah
2004 Napa Valley Zinfandel

Winemaking Styles & Strengths
How It's Done in the Cellar and the Fields

Thoughts on the Current Line-up
D-cubed Cellars 2004 Zinfandels are all very bright and fruity. The vintage produced wines that have great acidity and balance. For my 11 th vintage I produced 4 wines Napa Valley Zinfandel, Howell Mountain Zinfandel, and two single vineyard wines Brown Vineyards fro Chiles Valley and Black Sears Vineyard from Howell Mountain. One exciting change for Black Sears Vineyard is that it is now being farmed following Rudolf Steiner’s Biodynamic principles.

For the 2005 Vintage I have made a few new wines. I am releasing two from St. Helena, a traditional Zinfandel and a Late Harvest Wine! Look for a couple of other new wines later this year. These wines are fun new additions to my line-up.

2005 Napa Valley Zinfandel
The 2005 Napa Valley Zinfandel is blended from 55% Brown Vineyards, 25% Korte Ranch, 16% Cypress Ranch Zinfandels and 4% Cooke Vineyards Petite Sirah. These four vineyards from different parts of Napa Valley all contribute to make this a tasty and balanced wine.

D-cubed Cellars 2005 Napa Valley Zinfandel has bright cherry, raspberry fruit and some nice spice. This medium bodied wine has rich tannins that are smooth and supple, with balanced acidity. A little time in the bottle will make the elegance of this wine really shine. Enjoy this with good friends and a nice Rib-eye steak or some rich risotto.

2005 Brown Vineyard Zinfandel
The 2005 Brown Vineyard Zinfandel is rich and opulent. With aromas of Black Cherry, black pepper, and hints of vanilla. This wine is the richest wine D-cubed Cellars makes and fills your mouth with flavor and texture. I source my fruit from the southeast corner of the Brown Estate Vineyard from the Sugarloaf Block. If you are looking for intensity and richness, this wine will fit that bill to a T.

2005 Howell Mountain Zinfandel:
Howell Mountain wines come from above the fog. The region starts at 1,400 ft, but the two vineyards I use are at about 1,800 ft and 2,400ft. This helps the wines become intense and complex. Howell Mountain makes exciting and rich wines that really stand apart from others and show the terrior they are born from.

D-cubed Cellars 2005 Howell Mountain Zinfandel has aromas of raspberry, wild mushrooms, cedar and hints of orange peel. This Howell Mountain wine has rich body and medium-full tannins that fill the mouth nicely. There are wonderful flavors of raspberry, blackberry, porcini mushroom and cigar box. The wine finishes long and rich with hints of wood and tobacco.

2006 St. Helena Zinfandel
This is the second vintage of Dcubed Cellars St. Helena Zinfandel. The Korte Ranch is a classic old St. Helena Vineyard, planted around 1910.  Korte Ranch is head-trained and dry-farmed planted on the St. George rootstock and produces wonderful Zinfandel.

The 2006 St. Helena Zinfandel is a very intense wine with aromas of raspberries, vanilla and thyme.  The wine is very rich in the mouth with flavors of raspberry, cream, vanilla and other spices. The fresh flavors linger over the long smooth finish.

2005 Late Harvest Zinfandel
This very interesting Zinfandel comes from the Kidd Ranch in St. Helena. In 2005 I was lucky enough to purchase this fruit that came in at over 30 Brix and over 1.0 gm/100 mL total acidity, (these are numbers like you see in Auslese Riesling from Germany). I had only about 2 tons of the fruit so I decided to let it go and make a sweet wine.

The 2005 Late Harvest Zinfandel has an intense strawberry, black berry jam nose. The very lush, slightly sweet mouth has flavors of fresh strawberries and dried cherries, with hints of spice. This wine finishes with a crisp fruity blast. The light sweetness is balanced by the crisp natural acidity. This is a wonderful wine to have with a cheese course or some simple summer fruits.

2006 Napa Valley Primitivo
The Dcubed Cellars 2006 Primitivo is the second vintage of this fun wine. The Primitivo comes from the Cypress Ranch in Pope Valley (the back-side of Howell Mountain).  Primitivo is the clone of Zinfandel that is grown in Italy and pairs well with similar foods.

The 2006 vintage of Primitivo fills your nose with blackberry and strawberry aromas along with hints if black pepper and mushrooms.  The medium full body wine has smooth tannins and flavors of berries, black pepper and earth.  Please enjoy the similarities and differences of Primitivo with Zinfandel.

2005 Napa Valley Petite Sirah
I was lucky enough to have the chance to get a few tons of fruit from Melvin Cooke’s old head-trained vineyard on Highway 29 between St. Helena and Calistoga. The vines have beautiful red leaves and small crops of deep dark berries. I produced the wine as I do my Zinfandels, with gentle handling to preserve the fruit and spice. Even with this handling Petite Sirah produces a wine that is very dark and has some big tannins. I am not sure who named this varietal Petite Sirah because it is anything but petite.

The D cubed Cellars 2005 Petite Sirah has dark spicy black cherry fruit with medium body and full rich round tannins. The tannins smooth out to a long dark cherry finish.

2004 Napa Valley Zinfandel
My Napa Valley Zinfandel is a blend of 3 different vineyards, Brown Vineyard, Korte Ranch and Cypress Ranch. These three vineyards all give the wine different characteristics Brown Vineyards adds the Black Cherry and richness to the wine. Korte Ranch adds the classic Raspberry, and spice of Zinfandel, Cypress Ranch adds sage and some structure. These vineyards come together to make a very fun wine to drink!
D-cubed Cellars 2004 Napa Valley Zinfandel has black cherry and raspberry aromas with hints of sage and allspice. This wine is smooth and elegant, with the balance and structure to improve with 5 or so years of aging. There are lots of black cherry flavors rounded out with black pepper and allspice. The long fruity finish is very lovely which all add together to make a very pleasurable wine.

91 POINTS - 2004 Napa Valley Zinfandel
Ripe and rich with toasty oak overlying concentrated black cherry fruit, this nicely crafted offering provides glimpses of claret-like complexity in its briary and woodsy seasonings. Its supple entry and solid, but not hard-edged, balance does a fine job of taming its noticeable ripeness, and if there is a youthfully tannic pucker to the finish, it is nothing more than one might expect of wines with its architecture and depth.
May 2007

Winemaking Styles and Strengths
With all my fruit sources. I am always seeking to produce wines with balance, wines that have strength and elegance which pair easily with food. For some, a preferred style of Zinfandel must be an overwhelming, jet black, fruit bomb that blows you away with intensity and alcohol. The risk is the loss of the ability to read a particular vineyard character. I truly believe there is an inherent elegance to Napa Valley Zinfandels, a trait that is regionally, if not vineyard, distinguishable.

The challenge is to really define that fruit driven elegance, to narrow or confine it down to an area or a vineyard that will reflect a unique taste profile. This true reflection is what I seek out with my particular vineyard choices.

How It's Done in the Cellar and in the Fields
Actually, not much is done in the cellar. With the right fruit, the wine only needs to be guided...the integrity of the grapes pulls through to the bottling and final pouring of my wines. I believe that minimal handling of the grapes and similar production methods are key to letting a particular vineyard and varietal reflection come through.

It is critical to closely monitor every vineyard in order to produce the best grapes possible. During crush I am in each vineyard checking sugars, acids, color and tastes to harvest the most balanced grapes possible. I take an active part in every vineyard stage whether it is canopy management, plantings, soil amendments, or pruning ideas. D-Cubed has worked with the same vineyard management crew for a several years, therefore a consistency of method and perspective is maintained. For me it is a very hands on, personal process; one that will continue to produce a better product if vineyard integrity is maintained.