I bought three bottles of the 2004 Ghost Block cabernet shortly after it was released in the spring of 2007.  I drank the first bottle within a week of receiving my shipment, and quite frankly found the wine disappointing.  I drank the 2nd bottle in the fall of 2007 and the wine had morphed into an outstanding wine.  I'll be the first to admit that I wrote off the wine too quickly.  It just needed a bit more time.  The third bottle is still resting in my cellar.

The wine(during the fall tasting) had an immense bouquet of blackberry and black currant jam laid onto a backbone of strong but seamlessly integrated tannin.  The wine finished long and soft.  I liked the wine so much, I plan to order a couple bottles of the 2005 vintage when it is released in the next few months.

This is a new winery project, and it is difficult to get a lot of information about the winery.  As best as I can tell, the Ghost Block Winery is a side project of the Napa Wine Company.  Napa Wine Comapny is a company that leases it's wine making equipment to numerous boutique sized wineries, but also owns a lot of vineyard acreage in Napa.  They use most of their own grapes for the Napa Wine Comapny label, but have set aside fruit from the Rock Cairn Vineyard in Oakville for the Ghost Block label.  The grapes are 100% estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon, and 100% organically grown.  The vineyard is adjacent to an historic Napa cemetery, hence the Ghost Block name.  The vineyard is NOT on the cemetary grounds, so don't worry that your wine has some extra "spirit".  Ghost Block debuted with the 2004 vintage (released in 2007), and if future vintages are as promising as the 2004, look for this estate winery to gain rapidly in popularity.  If this should happen, the wine may become difficult to obtain.  Interested wine drinkers should think about getting on the mailing list now.

4 stars.  Can be found at select retailers (list not yet released), or directly from the winery at www.napawineco.com (retail price $55.00)

 

What did you think of this article?

Liked
Disliked
No Opinion