Rockledge Vineyards

is located in the hills in the north Eastern part of Napa Valley. They produced their first vintage in 1999. This winery was founded by Peter & Linda Snowden. Peter used to visit his aunt who had a house within a mile of their current property and during these visits was introduced to good wine. He slowly developed a palate for fine wine and decided to become a farmer and vintner. The vineyard is planted to four different Cabernet Sauvignon rootstocks and this is the varietal that they concentrate most of their production on. Over time they have learned more about their property and have identified the different soil and microclimates that grace the vineyards. Each of their rootstocks brings a different facet to their wine and all are blended into the final product. The grapes from one of the 4 rootstocks bring pleasant aromas to the wine and this is very noticeable on the nose which contains a lot of cherry flavors, ripe blackberries and some cloves.

Their winemaker has a very interesting story; he spent his savings to go to France to be trained at a winery but when he arrived he found out the winery no longer had a job for him. He then came to Napa Valley with his few worldly possessions and during his interviews ended up sleeping in his car each night! Well the rest is history and now he is producing excellent wine for Rockledge as well as several other high end wineries. Their Cabernet Sauvignon, appropriately called “the Rocks” (based on their very rocky vineyard) is a wine that is well balanced with structured firm tannins which do not actually overpower the wine. Production is about 800 cases and this wine is made at Terra Valentine on the opposite side of the valley. As of press time, Rockledge is starting to produce several hundred cases of a Chardonnay and also a Rousanne (Rousanne is a varietal not often produced by Napa wineries). The owner’s cousin has property nearby and also makes his own wine at Snowden Vineyards. Rockledge is not open to the public but they do have a mailing list available on their website. Visit: www.rockledgevineyards.com

NOTE: This review has been archived.
REASON: Stopped producing wine commercially