2014 Founders’ Reserve

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Tasting Notes

“The Founders’ Reserve provides our loyal customers with a peek behind the curtain at Seavey. The opportunity to honor Bill and Mary is the impetus each year to create this very small reserve cuvée made from special wine lots that, because of their small size, are known only to us in-house.” – Jim Duane, Winemaker 

This expressive wine opens with a beautiful aromatic medley of cedar, tobacco, clove, cardamom, rose petal and ripe cherry with dark baked fruit. It shows significant weight in the mouth but its power is refined and slow building. Melding together the lively fruit character of the 2014 vintage with Bordeaux-like savoriness and minerality, this wine is exciting and indeed boisterous yet displays an intriguing gravitas. The result?  A very special and unique homage to Seavey’s land and patient winemaking craft.

A handcrafted estate reserve wine, the Founders’ Reserve is a tribute to Seavey’s founders, William and Mary Seavey, honoring their steadfast love of the land and their dedication to creating masterful wines with a sense of place. Taste the essence of our steep hillside vineyards, the history of our land, and the passion of our family for making age-worthy Cabernets.

Vineyard Notes

The 2014 growing season was marked by a very dry winter, but then heavy rain in late February and early March replenished our vines with a full moisture profile. Nonetheless, the berries’ concentrated flavors reveal the ongoing multi-year drought. Early bud break was followed by an early harvest, memorable for the powerful earthquake that shook Napa Valley in late August.

The Founders’ Reserve was sourced from two of the oldest Cabernet blocks on the estate, Blocks 3 and 10. Planted in 1993, Block 3 is situated on a clay-rich plateau known for producing grapes with deep and layered power. Block 10, planted five years later, occupies a gentle south-facing slope that often surprises us with its aromatic fruit and elegant tannins.

Production Notes

This unique 69-case lot took form over numerous blending sessions during which winemaker Jim Duane and consultant winemaker Philippe Melka uncovered a ratio of the two Cabernets (sourced from Block 3 and Block 10) that not only knit the wines together but revealed a third element of mystique—an extra layer of minerality that rises on the palate and carries the wine to an exceptionally long finish. A small addition of Petit Verdot (1%) brings rose and ripe cherry notes to the aromatics. A profoundly expressive wine, we held the 2014 Reserve back for extra cellar aging before its release in April 2018.