Second release of Ovid

I was totally blown away byt the inaugural 2005 vintage of the estate wine from Ovid in Napa Valley. Since then, I’ve tasted both the 2005 and the 2006 vintages on several occasions. Every time, tasted open or blind, my impression stands – Ovid is a great site for vines, and a truly impressive wine. This second vintage is a blend of 43 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 41 percent Cabernet Franc (which thrives just perfectly in the reddish volcanic soil and high altitude on Pritchard Hill). The rest is a balance of Merlot and Petit Verdot.

The team behind this outstanding winery is owners Dana Johnson and Mark Nelson, and the superstar trio of winemaker Andy Erickson, viticulturist David Abreu and consultant Michel Rollad.

2006 Ovid / 95 p

This baby is so young, color is dark purple and almost opaque. On the nose it’s initially a bit closed, although it’s packed with dark, ripe and an almost sweet cassis and cherry fruit – but it is massive in the way that the deliscious and fragrant aromas of violets, sour cherries and the stony minerialty of the volcanic soil is almost totally covered. Therefore, I let the wine sit in the decanter for another hour, and then two hours, to open up and reveal those finer notes. The oak is there, sweetish and slightly toasted, but still very well integrated. To achieve that, you need the highest quality of fruit and barrels, and the wisdom to use the oak in a smart way. I think that Andy Erickson does that. One could easily expect this wine to be heavy and sweet on the palate, and of course it’s rich and very intense, the with a lively to fresh acidity, huge but ripe tannins, and a thickeling saltiness of minerality, I find the overall impression to be extraordinary well balansced and elegant. The fruit is at first somehow sweetish, with both blackberries and cassis, but the sweetness is held back a bit, and even the oak is extremely well in tune with all other components. Balance is the key word here. It’s an impressive wine with a very promising life, which if kept in a good way will evolve to give pleasure for another 10-15 years, and for those who enjoys fully mature wines, even longer that that. Decanting is recommended, at least the two hours I did at first, but even when I tasted the wine the day after, it was very enjoyable – the fruit was the a bit more elegant with lovely notes of black currants and sour cherries. Drink it 2014-2031.

The 2005 Experiment No K 1.5 from Ovid

Planted by David Abreu and Andy Erickson in 2000, the Ovid Vineyard on Pritchard Hill in Napa Valley is a source of some of the greatest wines in Napa Valley. How much I would love to jump 20 years into the future, to taste what will to come from this great site with more age of the vines. Even today, from just five year old vines, the wines are profound!
Since 2005, the first vintage at Ovid, winemaker Andy Erickson has crafted some experimental wines (one in 2005, and two in 2006) from grapes that didn’t fit the cuvée of the premium wine. These so called experimental wines also shows the greatness of this vineyard.

2005 Experiment No K 1.5 / 91 -92
This lovely wine is a blend of 73.5 percent Cabernet Franc, 21.9 percent Petit Verdot, and just s splash of Merlot (3.5 percent) and Cabernet Sauvignon (1.1 percent). All grapes are harvested in the vineyards of Ovid, up at Pritchard Hill. It’s not really a second label to the magnificent Ovid, although the experiment wines are made from grapes not used for the top wine, it’s definitely a wine with its own personality.
At first when poured into my Bordeaux shaped glass från Riedel, and even decanted almost two hours earlier, it was youthful, a bit closed and also quite oaky and fiery from its (as told on the label) 14.5 percent of alcohol. These negative notes disappeared after a while, and paved the way for a great nose, stuffed with dark ripe berries like cassis and blueberries, a kind of floral notes also to be found in the Ovid bottling, and also lovely nuances of grilled red bell pepper and just a hint of grass. On the palate, it’s rich and silky, the mineral notes that derives from the poor, red volcanic soil adds complexity in the relatively long taste, and as in the nose, it’s packed with dark ripe berries, yet elegant.
Drink it 2010-2020.

Ovid Red Wine 2005

At 420 meters altitude, at the highest peak of western Pritchard Hill, with the most amazing view over Napa Valley, you’ll find the small and very elegant estate of Ovid Vineyards. This is one of the most exciting of the new estates in Napa Valley. It is founded and owned by the software program business partners Mark Nelson and Dana Johnson, but the 6.10 hectares of vines, were planted on the rugged virgin land by the well known viticulturist David Abreu, and famed wine maker Andy Erickson in 2000. The first harvest was 2005, and with low yields, production of the one estate wine, and small lots of so called Experiment wines, reaches only 600 cases in 2008.

2005 Ovid Red Wine / 97
This is the inaugural vintage of Ovid Red Wine, a blend of 82 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 15 percent Cabernet Franc and just a little Merlot and Petit Verdot. All grapes comes from the estate vineyard, at this stage only five years old, all planted in well drained red volcanic soil. After a strict selection, grapes are carefully destemmed and dumped into small open top fermenters of concrete and French oak, just as at the finest château of Bordeaux, to ferment with the natural yeast. The cuvaison stretches from 25 to 45 days depending on the grape variety and lot, with careful and frequent pigeage. Den free run wine is filled into premium French, around 80 percent new, for malolactic fermentation and maturation during 18 months.
It’s one of the best and most profound new wines from Napa Valley since the release of Sloan, Scarecrow and Kapcsándy. Just the nose of this wine will make you happy and thrilled, it’s just outstanding! It offers ad deep and intense, perfectly ripe and aromatic nose with loads of dark cherries, but also with lovely floral notes of violets and lavender, and the oak is extremely well integrated.
On the palate, the joy and happiness continues, again with a pure, dark and intense cherry fruit, however not as open as on the nose. That may be explained by the marked notes of mineral, the youthful and firm but yet elegant tannic structure which holds the fruit back. With some air, the wine opens up quite a bit, and it’s a pure pleasure to drink this exceptional wine. Alcohol reaches 14.8 percent, but it is so well integrated and masked by the minerals, the fresh acidity and the tannin, that it’s almost not notable at all.
Not needed to be mentioned, I just love this wine and I will keep my eyes open on this estate and their future releases. Based on the extraordinary finesse and balance, the fruit and structure, I predict this wine to evolve in the bottle for a long time, perhaps longer than my expectations at this early stage. Drink it 2010-2020.