2019 Hendry "Estate" Napa Valley Proprietary Red

Hendry Estate is probably the greatest "hidden gem" in the entire Napa Valley. While they've been getting some excellent critical acclaim for many years now, the wines remain some of the very best values (and quite frankly underpriced) wines you'll find in the region. The Hendry family has been farming this bucolic ranch that sits at the base of Mount Veeder since 1939. Just this past October I was in the vineyard early one morning during harvest watching 10-year-old Drew Hendry (the 4th generation to live here) driving the tractor up and down vine rows hauling grape bins behind him. The estate that sits on an elevated bench just west of the town of Napa has been planted to vines since the mid-1970s. Many original blocks of Cabernet, Zinfandel and Chardonnay are still producing lovingly tended by Hendry's fulltime vineyard team several of whom live on the ranch itself. The crew is led by Vicente and Pedro who have worked on the ranch since 1974 and 1980 respectively. Over many decades these vines have produced fruit sold to iconic producers such as Robert Mondavi and Opus One! What Hendry doesn't have in glitzy marketing or a huge advertising budget they more than make up for with quality, authenticity and historical pedigree. The 2019 Estate Proprietary Red is a traditional Bordeaux inspired blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, and roughly 10% each of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Merlot all selected from specific blocks of the estate. It was aged for 20 months in 60% new French oak. It's a bold powerful wine with tons of deep, dark intense fruit - blackcurrant, elderberry, plum. Then there's pencil shavings, briary notes, subtle tobacco leaf and warm earth. It's nicely framed by the French oak, but not overpowered by it. The tannins are present a correct but beautifully wrapped up in the luxuriously textured mid-palate fruit. Crushed stone minerals from the estate's extremely rocky soils linger with mountain herbs and cedar on the finish. It walks a nice line between valley floor power and weight plus the more savory, structural aspects of the Mount Veeder AVA that starts just a few hundred feet up the road. If you haven't experienced Hendry's phenomenal wines yet, then this is the perfect way to acquaint yourself with what might well become your new favorite winery in Napa.