Magness Estates, Napa Valley

Magness Estates is a winery that was developed to highlight the classic varietals of California’s most famous growing region, Napa Valley. While Napa Valley only produces 4% of all the wine in California, it is arguably the best site in California for growing Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Merlot. Craig Handly is the winemaker for Magness Estates and has lived and made wine in Napa Valley for the past 20 years so his connections run deep. Craig’s father in law bought a dairy farm in St Helena in 1962 that he developed into vineyard land. The vineyard is located at the intersection of Stags Leap Trail and Zinfandel Lane; right at the edge of Stags Leap District. This is the source of our Cabernet Sauvignon. We produce Magness Estate at the famous “Ranch Custom Crush Facility” located less than a mile from this vineyard. Craig crafts our wines to reflect the personality and terroir of the vineyard sights and to highlight the bold intense flavors that can be grown in Napa Valley. The vintification and location of the vineyards produce wines that are typically priced at least twice the price of the Magness Estate wines. As Phil Laramore, Director of Winemaking, says, “We want people to drink and experience our wines on a regular basis, not put up a shrine and wait for the stars to align to drink them.”

MAGNESS CABERNET - *89 Points* - 2008 Vintage – California State Fair Wine Competition 2011

MAGNESS PINOT NOIR - *88 Points – Silver Medal* - 2009 Vintage – California State Fair Wine Competition 2011

MAGNESS WINES

Cabernet Shelf Talkers Selling Sheet

Chardonnay Shelf Talkers Selling Sheet

Merlot Shelf Talkers  Selling Sheet

Pinot Noir Shelf Talkers Selling Sheet

TASTING NOTES

2010 MAGNESS CHARDONNAY NAPA VALLEY

We have taken special care with our Chardonnay to produce a wine that has depth, power, and structure. We begin by soft pressing our fruit, then barrel fermenting the wines. Barrel Fermented Chardonnays are typically very oaky but we use barrels that are two to three years old to get more texture from barrel fermentation instead of those big vanilla/over-oaked California Chardonnays. We stirred the lees once a week for a period of 4 months to add an element of minerality and complexity. Finally, the wine went through a light egg white filtration to produce an unfined and unfiltered Chardonnay with texture, balance and a big mouth feel. We are using fruit from Spring Mountain for power, Carneros for acidity, and Rutherford for complexity. This is 100% Chardonnay that is a classic Napa powerhouse.

2009 MAGNESS PINOT NOIR RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY

Our Magness Pinot Noir was created to highlight California’s most famous Pinot Noir area, Russian River Valley. Our initial release in 2006 was in Napa Valley but after careful consideration and months of trial tastings, we concluded that the Russian River Valley with its cooling maritime influence, fog-cloaked mornings and gentle temperature risings was the appellation to produce our delicious Pinot Noir. The grapes were picked during the early morning hours to maximize the flavors in each berry. We then destemmed the grapes and cold soaked for a few days to ensure a gentle extraction of color, aroma, and flavor. This tender and gentle winemaking process gave this wine the telltale Russian River qualities of rich, smooth mouthfeel with big rounded flavors. Magness Pinot Noir was aged six months in French Barriques with a light toast in second and three year old barrels.

*88 Points – Silver Medal* - 2009 Vintage – California State Fair Wine Competition 2011

2008 MAGNESS MERLOT NAPA VALLEY

This is what we describe as a Cabernet lovers Merlot. We often show this wine blind because people have a preconceived notion of Merlot as being too soft. Once they try our Merlot they are quickly dispelled of this notion. The core of this fruit is coming off of Spring Mountain where the fruit is known for its potent flavors and big tannin structure. We are blending fruit from Craig’s “Father in Law’s Vineyard” as well to create a powerful Merlot that is packed with flavors of black cassis and black cherry. We aged our Merlot for 18 months to integrate the flavors and let the tannins soften. Magness Merlot is a classic Right Bank style Bordeaux Blend, a blend of 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. Our 2006 Magness Merlot was awarded an Editor’s Choice and 92 points from the Wine Enthusiast.

2008 MAGNESS CABERNET SAUVIGNON NAPA VALLEY

This flagship Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from Craig’s “Father in Law Vineyard” (he really does need to come up with a better name). After handpicking the grapes at 25.2 brix, we destemmed and crushed the grapes. After a fourteen day fermentation period we filtered and aged the wine for 18 months in French Barriques. The Barrels are all French of which about 10% are new. The remaining barrels are rotated through to be two to five years old to integrate the wood into the wine. This is a full throttle Napa Cabernet with all the bells and whistles of a wine that is typically priced two to three times this amount. It is the velvet glove on a steel fist of Cabernet. Soft, smooth, and velvety on the pallet but packing a big punch of flavors. This is a classic Left Bank Bordeaux Blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and the remaining 6% is a blend of Petite Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. The blending is to add texture and subtleties to our Cabernet Sauvignon.  

*89 Points* - 2008 Vintage – California State Fair Wine Competition 2011