Niner Wine Estates

Fog Catcher is our flagship estate Bordeaux blend. It is named for the cool, grey banks of fog that drift over our vineyards in the early morning, and the 2018 vintage is a blend of 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Petit Verdot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Malbec & 5% Carménère. We hand-harvested and fermented each varietal independently and allowed them to age in barrel for 16 months. After they had matured, we tasted each and selected the top tier barrels. To qualify, each variety must show luxurious texture, power and finessed flavors. The final blend was composed and returned to French Oak barrels to age an additional year, for a total of 26 months. We then allow the wine to rest in bottle for an additional year before we release it. If you plan to drink it within the first few years of its release, we recommend decanting for four+ hours prior to enjoying it.

We farm more Cabernet Sauvignon than anything else. We hand-harvested the grapes, de-stemmed them and fermented and aged the wine in a 2,000-gallon French Oak tank. The 2020 vintage is balanced, vibrant and youthful

The grapes in this blend were grown at our two estate vineyards in Paso Robles. Heart Hill Vineyard is located in the Willow Creek District and Bootjack Ranch in the Geneseo District. We find that both vineyards complement each other in a blend to produce a wine that is a great representation of the quality that Paso Robles can achieve. At its core this blend features three varietals each contributing a different element to the blend. We start with Cabernet Franc as it provides a structural foundation (dry tannin). We then layer in Cabernet for its complex red fruit and finally Malbec adds a mouthwatering juicy quality. This is a wine that is ready to drink now that broadly showcases the beauty of our two vineyards during an excellent vintage.

We farm 10 acres of Syrah on the steep, rocky slopes of Heart Hill Vineyard. This wine is a blend of three different blocks of Syrah, each harvested separately. We fermented the grapes in stainless steel tanks with different whole cluster and destemmed components. This varied fermentation approach created a canvas of Syrah expression, from dark pomegranate and juicy blackberry to black pepper and tea notes. We then barrel-aged the wine in 60% new French Oak barrels designed specifically for Syrah for 20 months prior to bottling.

In 2019 we had the opportunity to co-ferment Malbec with Cabernet Sauvignon, combining the cherry flavor of the Malbec with some darker tones of the Cabernet Sauvignon. We hand-sorted, destemmed and gravity-fed the grapes into stainless steel tanks, where the fruit fermented for 10-12 days at higher temperatures. This wine was aged in standard oak barrels for 20 months, 45% of which were new French Oak, adding notes of clove, vanilla and brown sugar.