Bourassa Vineyards 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
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Featured Wine
About the Vineyard
Bourassa Vineyards is a distinguished Napa Valley winery. Born from a family tradition of winemaking with a passion for quality, wines are hand-crafted in small lots to ensure unsurpassed excellence in every bottle. This week, HotCosts is offering their inaugural 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon titled Symphony (3).
Bourassa Vineyards was founded in 2001 by Vic Bourassa. His business model was to focus on sourcing prime fruit from Napa Valley and to join forces with Gary Galleron, one of the finest winemaking consultants in the valley. Born and raised in Napa Valley, Gary's winemaking pedigree includes working with Mike Grgich at Chateau Montelena and producing his own wines for Whitehall Lane, Grace Family, Hartwell, Vineyard 29 and Seavey.
Symphony is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from three distinct growing regions, Tulocay, Oak Knoll and Yountville.
Summary of Tasting Event
This wine was tasted on March 22, 2008 by a panel of 5 tasters in a blind tasting format and paired withHarmoniously Braised Short Ribs.
This wine was built for the cellar but can be enjoyed now. We noticed a bit of alcohol on the initial sniff out of the bottle. But, that rounded out to aromas of dark berries after a few minutes in the glass. There was a lot of sweet fruit in the mouth. Strawberry, raspberry and cherry jam was noted. On the mid-pallet, the wine felt rich, lush and smooth. We were all amazed at the amount of fresh fruit flavor that came from this wine. This wine spent almost 3 years in the barrels giving the fruit lots of time to blend and mellow.
The winery sent us their braised short-ribs recipe to pair with this Cab and their Harmony Bordeaux blend. This Cabernet Sauvignon was built for food. It's a well-balanced wine with smooth tannins and enough acid to really enhance the short-ribs. You can't go wrong with this pairing for a dinner party.
| Wine Profile Style | ||
| Light Bodied | Medium Bodied | Full Bodied |
| Drink Now (0-3 yrs) | Will Age (3-5 yrs) | Will Age (8-10 yrs) |
| Slightly Fruity | Fruity | Very Fruity |
| No Tannins | Softer Tannins | Heavier Tannins |
| Low Acidity | Medium Acidity | High Acidity |
| No Residual Sugar Dry | Off Dry | Sweet |
Tasting Notes
Indie Winemakers' Tasting Notes
Our mission is to provide unbiased opinions of the wine being offered. These notes come from up to 10 guests who tasted this wine in a blind tasting format (wine is concealed so their identity is unknown). Why this format? Tasting blind completely throws out any hype associated with a certain winery, style, price point, etc; it forces the taster to accept what is in the glass without any predetermined notions. Our guests utilize Robert Parker's Glossary of Wine Terms for their comments for consistency purposes. In addition, we utilize the wine aroma wheel to enhance one’s ability to describe the complexity of wine flavor. Notes are posted on this wine during the tasting to ensure they accurately reflect the impressions.
Tasting Notes
- NH: Lots of strawberry and black cherry on the nose. This could have passed as a Zin for the initial taste. So much fruit flavor. The soft tannins and acid helped round out the fruit after a bit in the glass.
- RLA: Cherry and raspberry nose and taste. Some dark berry jam was noted as well. This is a full-body, but smooth wine. Yum!
- BH: At first I thought it was a Zin because of the alcohol and dark berry nose. The nose relaxed to just a dark berry aroma. Initial big bodied flavors with a very long finish. Flavors of pepper and blackberry. Very nice, well-balanced wine. I like it a lot.
- EH: Very big wine flavor and some alcohol noted initially. Big bodied wine with a very long finish.
- MA: This wine exhibits aromas of dark berries, red currant and coffee. Flavors were dark cherry fruit and dark chocolate. The essence of this wine continues over the palate with more fruit on the finish. This will be enjoyed by those who like big bold Cabs.
Technical Data
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Wine Technical Data
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| Blend | 100% Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Appelation | Tulocay, Oak Knoll and Yountville, Napa Valley |
| Harvest Dates | September 10 to September 25, 2004 |
| Sugar at Harvest | 24.7 degrees Brix |
| Fermentation | 3 days with 2 punchdowns/day |
| Aging / Cooperage | 30 Months in French Oak, 30% new from Seguin Moreau. |
| Alcohol | 14% by volume |
| Acidity | PH = 3.TBD, TA = 0.TBD |
Vintage Description
The 2004 harvest was one of the earliest on record for the last 10 years. A heat wave in early March forced early bud break and high temperatures continued throughout the summer. A hot spell in late August gave sugar levels a boost and ripened the grapes in early September. We harvested the Cabernet Sauvignon at 24 to 26 brix, leaving the grapes on the vine until the seeds were dark brown and the grape was ph balanced and mature. We confirm our visual and taste inspections with lab tests for biological ripeness before harvest. Fruit quality was exceptional and produced plump berries with ripe flavors that resulted in a very lush Cabernet. Deep layers of flavor, full body and robust color add to the complexity of this 2004 wine.
Vinification
The grapes were cold soaked for three days to sufficiently cool the must to 55 degrees Fahrenheit to insure clean fermentation. Yeast is inoculated with D254 strain and fermented at 86% degrees Fahrenheit; this insures a good color for the wine. Pump overs are performed twice per day. Once the juice is fermented dry we press the pumice at 24lbs. or 2 bars on the press.
Winemaker's Tasting Notes
This Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Symphony is a blend of our most prized vineyards from three distinct growing regions, Tulocay, Oak Knoll and Yountville. Dense ruby in color, the black fruit aromas lead the palate to a sweet ripe blackberry, cherry flavor profile with hints of chocolate, toasted oak and smooth vanilla to round out the finish
