Round Pond

Veteran consultant Cary Gott made the wine for this longtime grower but relative newcomer to the Napa Valley winery scene. Round Pond estate has three vineyards. The 100-acre Red Barn vineyard (not the source for this wine), which is sandwiched between Honig and Frog’s Leap, was the origin in 1967 of Freemark Abbey’s first Cabernet. Fruit from this vineyard also went to Caymus.

The two vineyards for this wine -- the Round Pond Vineyard itself, with another 200 acres, is across from the Red Barn parcel and sits between the Napa River and the Silverado Trail; and the 32 acre Hills Vineyard which sits below Honig and is contiguously west of Red Barn.

This wine is Round Pond’s second release. Gott has fashioned a lovely, balanced wine that is currently very sweet, with a little too much oak, and which is full of blackberries. But I expect the fruit and wood to settle in and take on the good qualities of a well-made wine as it matures, because there are enough tannins and acidity to carry it. Hold onto this one for a couple of years (unless, of course, you like a sweet Cab), and drink it over the next 15 years.

The wine was held in 90 percent new oak for 20 months. The listed alcohol is 14.5 percent and there were 1,500 cases produced.

Reviewed August 18, 2006 by Alan Goldfarb.