Very cool. For those of you who like big bottles, you might enjoy these photos of our large formats from the 2002 vintage. The bottles were etched and then handpainted by Bergin Glass Impressions. If you are interested in purchasing these bottles, contact us.

Cary:
We are pressing the two tanks of butterdragon today. One tank is in the press now. The lots will be kept as two lots.
Will go to barrels.in a few days. ML in barrel.
The wines look great

Cary:
Tank 9 baconbrook. Dark dark dark. Dry deep rich. Not too tannic but round been dry for a few days. Will leave on skins.
Very nice
OT3 butterdragon
OT13
Exotic spices. Dry dark clean deep flavors May press one tank and keep the other on the skins a bit.

Cary:
All tanks are almost dry
Look / taste great

Cary Gott has been using his Blackberry this season to keep me updated with brief messages. I’ll post of few of his reports here. We start off on Thursday, October 13. The grapes from both vineyards were harvested the week prior and Cary is reporting on fermentation progress:
All ferms in opentops are up to temp 83 and smelling good. Sugars are dropping properly.

I tasted our 03 and 04 vintages out of the barrel a couple of days ago and thought this would be a good opportunity to report how these vintages are shaping up for us. 2003 will be the last vintage when we produce only one wine as 2004 will see the debut of Baconbrook.

2003 Butterdragon Hill Cabernet Sauvignon (final blend)

03 was a head scratcher – it was really a story of two vintages. An extremely hot September caused the vines at the bottom portion of Butterdragon – where the soil is thinner – to start to shut down. We were losing a lot of grapes to dehydration. Dimpled grapes or “sad faces” were starting to predominate. It was either harvest or loose the crop so we brought in about ¼ of the vineyard earlier than anticipated. The rest we gambled that the weather would break and it would make it until we felt the grapes had reached full flavor ripeness.

That “early” lot made pretty good wine, but it never fit in with what we’re trying to do at Match so we decided not to include it in the final blend. Fortunately, our gamble waiting to harvest the rest of the vineyard paid off and the September 2003 heat gave way to some perfect ripening weather in early October.

The final 2003 blend from Butterdragon – to be bottled September 2005 – is showing remarkable complexity with mature fruit, more earthy characteristics than our 02, and a touch of eucalyptus. The tannic structure indicates that this wine will probably require more patience to reveal it potential.

2004 was a great growing season, but as I’m starting to learn, abnormal is normal in farming. Everything moved up 3-4 weeks in 2004. Spring was early followed by an even, pleasant growing season culminating in hot weather during early September. Many vineyards, including ours, were ready for harvest of Cabernet Sauvignon in early to mid September. It’s still so early, but it looks like 2004 will be a blockbuster year for us at Match.

2004 Butterdragon Hill Cabernet Sauvignon

Our 2004 wines have not yet been blended, so these are comments on the components that will eventually become our 2004 release.
Merlot – Of the 90 rows at Butterdragon, 3 of them are Merlot. 2002 gave us just a tad of Merlot. Those grapes were “field blended” – harvested and fermented in the same tank – as the Cab. In 2003 we got a bit more merlot, fermented separately, but ended up blending in with the Cab. We’re really liking the way about 3% Merlot can soften and round out a Cab.
In 2004, we’ve again kept the Merlot separate up to now. It’s a pretty wine, very floral and bright and would stand nicely on its own. Still, since we have so little of it, we currently plan to use most if not all in the final blend of our 2004 Butterdragon Hill Cabernet Sauvignon.
Cabernet Sauvignon (Clone 7) – Dark fruits, big mouthfeel, really big aromas of berries.
Cabernet Sauvignon (Clone 15) – Brighter fruit, more acidity than the Clone 7, more oak and tannin evident.
We’re really excited about what the above three wines are going to do when they join forces to become our 2004 Match Butterdragon Hill Cabernet Sauvignon

2004 Baconbrook Cabernet Sauvignon

Ah the newcomer… but it’s not arriving quietly. The 04 Baconbrook is going to be a monster. Ever time I try it, I like it more. The pieces are coming together wonderfully with incredibly complex dark fruits, leather, and a huge tannic structure for this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cary Gott has described this wine as being more like Howell Mountain than its own appellation, Spring Mountain District. This is one of those wines that stains the glass and makes you brush your teeth afterwards. It may be a 20+ year wine.

Freshly bottled 2002 Match Butterdragon Hill Cabernet Sauvignon march along the line towards the labeling machine.

Thursday was a big day for us. We received our Land Use Permit from Napa County to build a beautiful winery designed by Backen Gillam Architects on Butterdragon Hill. Stay tuned. Although we’ve had nothing but good experiences custom crushing at Rombauer, we look forward to the day when our wine has its own home.

Today was a red letter day in our short history. We made our first outside sales. Although our wine hasn’t been officially released [soon!] we made a special exception for a couple of really cool wine enthusiasts who have followed this project almost from the very beginning. And what makes this experience especially sweet: we’ve had the chance to sit down with both of these gents to swap wine and stories, getting to know them a bit better. We’re looking forward to getting to know you too. That’s why we’re in this business. Thanks, DavidN and Grapefulldead!