2018 Morgado Cellars Red Blend Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Napa Valley

WSI95+ JD96 Lots of red, black, and blue fruits as well as notes of iron, bouquet garni, and chocolate emerge from the 2018 Red Wine Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard. Medium to full-bodied, it has a ripe yet balanced, concentrated mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and beautiful length on the finish. As with all the wines from Morgado, it brings loads of pleasure and is already a joy to drink.
Estate Notes: From the rocky exposed face of Sugarloaf Mountain, this marriage of Merlot and Cabernet Franc offers aromas of fresh from the oven German Chocolate cake (with a Bing cherry glaze). Heritage leather, bay leaf, and pipe tobacco wrap around a core of sundried cherries, persimmon, and end of season plum. Mouthwatering acidity carries the density of this wine and delivers the minerality and polished tannins from start to finish. While delicious upon release, this wine possesses a mystically restrained core that will reveal itself opulently over decades. 60% merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged 22 months in 100% new French oak Darnajou and Taransaud. 250 cases produced.

VINEYARD: Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard is located in the South Napa hills. It is a rockpile with full sun exposure and a soil profile that makes it a special site for premium wine grape growing. The farming company that tends this vineyard does a meticulous job of hand balancing each section of vines on this ranch, based on it’s row and slope orientations needs. The vines are given personal manicuring throughout the entire growing and ripening season and this detailed attention is reflected in the finished wines. 

Morgado Cellars is a project by wine maker Kimberly Hatcher: 
“I have been a San Francisco firefighter since 1998 and a winemaker since 2009.  In anticipation of a full life after retirement from the San Francisco Fire Department, I went in search of wine knowledge and found a wonderful community willing to point me in the right direction.  I have enjoyed drinking wine for many years.  From my college days forward I ventured in and out of a few casual tasting groups, each time learning a little bit more about evaluating wine.  Once I got the thought in my head to try my hand at wine making, the pieces just seemed to fall into place.  I knew a grape grower, who sent me to her farmer, who told me to go and talk to their wine maker who tasted me on the most mind blowing wines I have ever come across.  The hook was set and I was unstoppable! 
I have to thank the man who gave me my start. Russell Bevan extended his tutelage, taking a chance on a girl with no experience in wine making.   He told me that when we first met, my passion for my job and family gave him insight into my work ethic and dedication to everything that I do. And I am sure it didn’t hurt that I loved his wine!   I worked hard and asked every question that came to mind in the winery and in the vineyard.  Russell had the patients of Jobe and opened up opportunities that might have taken me years to find otherwise. I will forever be grateful for this.