2015 Continuum Proprietary Red

Showing well, the 2015 Continuum is still youthfully purple-hued with an opulent, full-bodied style in its darker black and blue fruits, leafy herbs, garrigue, and spice-driven aromas and flavors. Coming from a hot, low-yielding year, this nevertheless has flawless balance, a pure, layered mouthfeel, and ripe tannins. It's absolutely singing today, yet it has another 2+ decades of life ahead of it.

From estate-wide average yields of just 1.3 tons per acre, the 2015 Proprietary Red is a blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Cabernet Franc, 17% Petit Verdot and 6% Merlot. It's a full-bodied, lush and velvety effort, with classic scents of ripe cherries and dark chocolate accented by sage, bay and floral nuances and with a long, complex and still gently tannic finish.

The 2015 Continuum is a blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Cabernet Franc, 17% Petit Verdot, and 6% Merlot, with all the fruit estate grown from Sage Mountain Vineyard on Pritchard Hill. "There was cold snap during flowering and we ended up with half a crop in 2015," said Tim Mondavi. "This also affected the 2016 crop, lowering volumes that year by 20%." It is deep garnet-purple in color and bursts with notes of exotic spices, blackberry preserves, crème de cassis, Jasmine tea, and incense, followed by an undercurrent of currants. Medium to full-bodied, the generous black and red fruit flavors are well-framed by firm, grainy tannins and compelling freshness, finishing long and spicy.