Peter Newton was one of the cofounders of Stirling Vineyards in 1964 before starting Newton Vineyard with his wife, Su Hua in 1977 on approximately 1 square mile on Spring Mountain. The winery grew into 560 acres with stunning mountain top views and immaculate English Gardens that surrounded the pagoda-inspired winery. Most of the 560-acre property was hidden by a rugged forest.
Peter passed away in 2008 and the winery was purchased by the French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH with the family retaining a 10% shareholding. Tragedy struck in 2020 when the Glass Fire eradicated the Estate from the face of the earth. Earlier this year LVMH announced it would not be rebuilding the winery. This marks the end of an era.
2017 was an excellent vintage producing rich, full bodied Cabernets with great fruit structure and high quality … for those that picked early, before the fires, and most did. Sadly, this also marks one of the last vintages ever released.
This wine is all about balance, elegance, structure, and depth of fruit and possesses immediate appeal from the first sip. Classically styled Napa from mountain fruit.
Enchanting aromas of dark fruits almost overwhelm the senses- blackberries, black currents, dark chocolate, and cedar with a hint of earthiness to round things out.
The mouthfeel is rich, opulent, and velvety smooth with an abundance of elegance, balance, depth, and complexity. All this is wrapped in ripe blackberries, dark plums, dark chocolate, black currents, and vanilla, with secondary notes of truffles, and earthy notes with just a suggestion of dark cherries. Tannins are fine grained but evident.
This will cellar out to 2035 with a problem. This will go the distance.
Pairings should include your favorite choice cut of red meat, cooked your favorite way. If your vegetarian, my favorite with bold reds is Felafels, Baba Ghanoush, and fresh Pita Bread.
Vine to Table 