2021 Ovid Proprietary Red Blend Napa Valley

Winemaker Notes:  Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) was a Roman poet who lived from 43 BC until 17 AD. His most famous work, Metamorphoses, is a poetic retelling of the Greek myths, celebrating the themes of transformation and change. Planted in 2000 on the rocky red, volcanic perch of Pritchard Hill, our organically certified 15-acre vineyard is divided into one-acre blocks—each with a unique rootstock and clone combination of Bordeaux varieties. While transforming our estate-grown grapes into Ovid wines, we take care at every step and devote extraordinary technical attention to the vineyard to ensure the most authentic expression in the glass. For our label, we chose a quotation from Ovid’s Metamorphoses that expresses what we hope to achieve with our wine:

partimque figuras rettulit antiquas, partim nova monstra creavit.
Partly we recovered the old, familiar things; partly we created something wondrous and new.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM


Decanter - "Each year, the blend of Ovid wines varies depending on the vintage. Winemaker Austin Peterson prefers not to pre-plan the blend, instead approaching each vintage with a fresh perspective. Often, the wine needs more Cabernet Sauvignon to qualify as a Napa Valley varietal wine. The vineyard features an abundance of Clone 4, planted across four of its 17 blocks within the 6ha site. This clone contributes a distinctive savoury character and polish, evident in the 2021 vintage with its flinty minerals, green tobacco, and mulberry fruit, reminiscent of Napa Cabernets from the 1970s. Comprising 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot, the wine is aged 20 months in 66% new French oak. It is full-bodied with ripe, chewy tannins that assert themselves on entry but gradually soften, revealing a beautifully layered wine with mineral-infused mulberry fruit and green tobacco aromas. The wine exhibits notable tension, supported by a pH level 3.78, ensuring vibrancy and freshness. It is a pedigreed wine characterised by balance, intensity, and complexity." (JC 5.24)

Jeb Dunnuck - "Moving to the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, it's 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, and the balanced 7% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot. Insanely pure, it offers kaleidoscope-like aromatics of black and blue fruits, spring flowers, chocolate, burning embers, and bouquet garni. Full-bodied on the palate, it doesn't get any better, and it's concentrated, has building tannins, and a monster of a finish. Offering more generosity and opulence than just about every other wine in the vintage, this is a killer bottle of wine! It will make your eyes roll back in your head today, yet will ideally be given 4-5 years of bottle age and will evolve gracefully over the following two decades. Bravo!" (JD 12.23)

James Suckling - "The purity of fruit and class to this wine is really impressive, with roses, lavender. violets and blackcurrants and a sweet lift. Medium- to full-bodied with very long and racy tannins. They go from the front of your palate to the back. This is so beautiful and graceful yet structured. Give this at least four to five years." (JS 1.24)


Vinous - "The 2021 Ovid is another exceptional wine in this range. Dark shades of Cabernet Sauvignon fruit open first, followed by hints of leather, lavender, spice, tobacco and incense that lend complexity. Deep and structured, with notably finessed tannins for a young mountain wine, the 2021 delivers the goods. This is quite impressive in the early going, especially with time in the glass. " (AG 12.23)