Black Cat Vineyard is
a small boutique winery located in the beautiful Napa Valley, home to some
of finest and most well known vineyards and wineries in the world. We take
great pride in the attention to detail that sets Black Cat Vineyard apart
from the rest. We craft wines in very small quantities to allow artful
attention to every detail. As the proprietor and winemaker for Black Cat
Vineyard my obsession for
quality drives me to carefully control every step of the process from the
vineyard to the bottle to produce hand-crafted artisan wines.
The Vineyards:
Great wine begins in
the vineyard so I start each day with a stroll through my vineyard to assure
that the grapes are of the finest quality. The manicured vineyard gets
attention every day and improvements are constantly being made based on
experimental trials I conduct every year in small sections of the vineyard.
The granite and volcanic soils make the vineyard a natural for growing Syrah
on this rocky hillside property. Constant vigilance enables swift response
to “Mother Nature” and is rewarded with superior premium Napa Valley grapes.
I work and worry all year to harvest the perfect grapes at the perfect time
and the results have been incredibly rewarding.
Winemaking:
The wines are made in
an artisan style. After hand-selecting each bin of grapes for Black Cat
Vineyard they are gently crushed and destemmed directly into small open-top
fermenters. I handle all winemaking responsibilities with the same
personal attention as I do the vineyard management.... usually doing all
punch-downs myself so that I can closely monitor the fermentation of each
lot. I make decisions regarding racking and aging barrel by barrel not on
predetermined schedules. The nurturing and patience I impart rewards us
with artisan wines we are proud to share.
