Luckily for our subject wine, the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are harvested in August, long before the bears make their way down to the lower Foothills for the apple harvest.  The ten year old vineyard is two acres in size and sits on a sloping, westerly facing hillside that enjoys full afternoon sun and rich red soil with outcroppings of granite.  The vineyard is surrounded by incredible oak and pine trees on two sides, creating a shade issue for the two rows of Merlot located at the bottom of the vineyard.  Paul is fastidious in keeping the production of these vines low, less than 2 tons per acre, by pruning, thinning and watering only two to three times per year.  Also, the vines are grown fairly close together creating a little more competition amongst the vines for the available water and nutrients, stressing the grapes just a bit and helping develop that great complexity so important to a good wine. 

Port:   The grapes used to make the Port come from a 30 acre vineyard in Amador County; St. Amant Vineyards.  Located in the Jackson Valley area surrounded by Comanche Lake, Lake Pardee and Lake Amador the vineyards enjoy an unusually cool climate for this region of the Foothills.  The breezes that blow down into the valley in the evening causes a significant temperature shift from day to night.  Originally planted to Zinfandel, the most common grape in Amador County, the vineyard created a Zin with too much acidity to make it acceptable for use in a varietal wine. 

After much research, the vineyard owner, Tim Spencer, decided to graft the vines over to a field blend of Port varietals that now consist of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cao, Souzao, Tinta Roriz (known as Tempranillo in Spain) and Alverlhao.  At the time of the planting this was the largest planting of Port style grapes in the state and is nationally known for its incredible fruit quality.  Although the common wisdom in California would have you believe that grapes for a Port style wine should be picked at fairly high sugar levels, around 30 degrees Brix, at a conference at UC Davis an internationally renowned grower from Portugal stated they commonly pick their grapes at a level equivalent to 22 to 23 degrees Brix.  This intrigued Paul and Tim and they began picking the grapes in this vineyard at around 24 degrees Brix.  The result was wines with enough acidity to keep them from being overly sweet or cloying, allowed for great complexity, and prevented that raisined taste that can be found in many California Port style wines.