2009 Ovid Napa Valley Red Wine, Napa Valley, Magnum (1.5L)

DR98 (Ovid, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, USA, Red) At 13 years of age, the 2009 Ovid is fresh, lively, and teeming with energy. It is a powerful and still-youthful red wine rife with impressive purity of fruit, well-endowed with structure. Ripe blackberry fruit aromas are laced with tobacco spices, a pop of capsicum, black pepper, vanilla and cedar. Full-bodied with satiny red and black fruits, candied violets and sagebrush with slivers of iron shavings. Powerful tannins build on the finish, framed by a backbone of excellent acid tension and energy. Early vintages had been aged in 100% new French oak. Still, by 2009, with confidence building in farming and site selection and in the wines themselves, the winemaking team began backing down from all that new oak to usher in a new decade of transparency of place.

AG97 (Ovid Ovid Napa Valley) The 2009 Ovid is another of the more voluptuous wines in this vertical. Silky tannins and an overall impression of creaminess stand out. Even with all of its depth and ripeness, the 2009 remains fresh, vibrant and capable of drinking well for another decade-plus. Hints of sweet tobacco, menthol and licorice add shades of nuance. The 2009 is a wine to enjoy for its racy curves and flamboyant personality. Today, the 2009 is super-impressive. In many ways, the 2009 also represents an inflection point in the estate’s early history. It was the first year the estate moved to farming the property block-by-block, rather than as one large piece of land. Specifically, decisions on pruning, irrigation and crop thinning were made with much more rigor and focus than in years prior.