Chateau Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Winemaker's Notes:

About This Wine: Layered nuances of vanilla, fresh roast coffee, nutmeg and clove. This balanced Cabernet Sauvignon is well-structured with fine-grained tannins that lead to a long, powerful finish.<br/><br/> <strong>Vineyards Vintage:</strong> The grapes for this wine are sourced exclusively from Souverain’s own 120-year-old estate vineyards in the Alexander Valley. These vineyards are located along an inland expanse of the Russian River, which channels early evening breezes to cool the valley’s warm afternoons. The moderated warm climate as well as the volcanic and alluvial soils of the valley allows Cabernet grapes to ripen evenly and retain their balanced acidity.<br/><br/> The 2005 vintage will best be known for its vigor due to an extended growing season brought on by a mild, temperate summer and fall. The season got off to a rainy start, and May was the wettest in over one hundred years. With a cool start to June, July was summer-like but lacked heat spikes. As a result, the grapes enjoyed extended hang time, allowing the fruit to fully mature delivering ripe, delicious flavors. Harvest was late but very compressed, avoiding late fall rainstorms.<br/><br/> <strong>Winemaking:</strong> Winemaker Ed Killian keeps each vineyard lot of the Cabernet Sauvignon separate, gently pressing each lot for desired color and flavor extraction—an important step in the Souverain Cabernet program. The wine is then racked and aged in 100% new oak barrels (60% French, 20% Hungarian and 20% American) for a total of 24 months before blending and bottling. Ed Killian and his winemaking team keep close watch on each wine throughout the aging process to help determine which lots will make up the final blend.<br/><br/> <strong>Winemaker's Comments:</strong> The 2005 Home Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon offers an inviting nose of ripe blackberry, black plum, dark roasted coffee and anise. There’s a nice continuity between the nose and the palate of this wine. The flavors are dense and concentrated and the oak is well integrated. The fine-grained tannins frame the black currant, blackberry and nutmeg flavors and lead to a spicy fruit compote finish.<br/><br/> About The Winery: <strong>Authentic</strong> - Wines that are the best expression of each varietal and Alexander Valley<br/><br/> <strong>Attainable</strong> - Exceptional wines that you can drink every day<br/><br/> <strong>Award Winning</strong> - A sixty-year history of unsurpassed wine quality as noted by the wine press<br/><br/> At Souverain, our goal is to make authentic wines that are the best expression of each varietal and Alexander Valley. We believe our consumers deserve to drink great wine every night, so our wines are exceptional attainable. Our love affair with producing wines has stretched back over 60 years and during that time our award winning wines have received numerous accolades and praise from the wine press.<br/><br/> In the end, though, the most important award to us is a satisfied consumer.<br/><br/> Our Winemaker: Having worked with the same growing areas – and in some cases the same vineyards – for more than 25 years, Ed Killian knows the vineyards of Alexander Valley inside and out. He understands which blocks will give him the fruit he’s looking for to create Souverain’s signature style. He believes the most important part of winemaking is learning the characteristics and tendencies of the vineyards.<br/><br/> Ed joined Souverain winery as associate winemaker in 1992 from Lambert Bridge Winery in Dry Creek Valley. In his role as associate winemaker, Ed had a strong hand in every aspect of winemaking at Souverain, and was named winemaker in May of 1996. As winemaker, Ed views his role as the steward of the Souverain name and historical legacy. He uses his expertise to craft Alexander Valley wines on which he’s proud to put the Souverain name.<br/><br/> Souverain has such an incredible history of making distinct wines, and I constantly work to carry on that legacy and tradition, says Ed Killian. The beautiful, concentrated fruit of our 120-year-old Alexander Valley Estate Vineyards contributes to this, as do our cellar techniques and our new state-of-the-art winemaking facility. My mission is to continue to craft wines that represent the best of Alexander Valley.<br/><br/> Ed serves on the Board of the Alexander Valley Winegrowers, and is a member of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture and the California Enological Research Association. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Redlands and a master’s in enology at the University of California at Davis. Upon graduation Ed worked as a research enologist for Guild Wineries before joining Lambert Bridge in 1981.<br/><br/> He and his wife, Jean – both native Californians – have lived in Healdsburg since 1981. When Ed is not making wine, he is an avid home brewer and also enjoys cooking, scuba diving and gardening<br/><br/> Our History The history of Souverain began in the Napa Valley in 1944 when J. Leland “Lee” Stewart harvested his first crop of wine grapes from his Howell Mountain property in the northern part of the valley.<br/><br/> At the suggestion of his young daughter, Stewart named his winery “Souverain” (taken from the French word for “sovereign” or “supreme”), and his Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings from the 1960s were considered by many to be just that.<br/><br/> In the years that followed, Stewart used innovation and a natural gift for winemaking to establish Souverain as one of the great California wineries.<br/><br/> The winery moved to the Alexander Valley when Stewart eventually sold it in 1973. Stewart stayed on as a consultant throughout the construction of the new facility. In 1976, a limited partnership of growers took control and by 1981, Stewart had fully retired from winemaking.<br/><br/> Beringer winery bought Souverain in 1986 and added the word Chateau to the Souverain brand name. In 1992, Ed Killian was hired on as Associate Winemaker and by 1996 he was the head Winemaker.<br/><br/> In 2006, Souverain built a state-of-the-art winemaking facility surrounded by the 120-year-old Souverain Estate Vineyards in the Alexander Valley, near Cloverdale, where Winemaker Ed Killian has long been sourcing the grapes for his award-winning Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc.<br/><br/> While the name, faces and location of the winery have changed over the years, the tradition of fine wine production continues at Souverain today. Just as Lee Stewart began, Ed Killian consistently produces outstanding wines that represent the best of their region.<br/><br/> Technical Analysis: <strong>Vintage:</strong> 2005<br/><br/> <strong>Varietal:</strong> Cabernet Sauvignon<br/><br/> <strong>Appellation:</strong> Alexander Valley<br/><br/> <strong>Alcohol:</strong> 14.6%<br/><br/>