2010 Continuum Novicium

Continuum is the Mondavi family’s new winemaking venture. It is a 41-acre estate on Pritchard Hill in Napa Valley. It is run by Tim Mondavi and his sister Marcia Mondavi. Their father was the legendary Robert Mondavi, who died in 2008. Four years before Robert’s death the family sold the Robert Mondavi Corp. to Constellation Brands, and in 2005 Robert, Tim and Marcia founded Continuum. Tim was for four decades part of the winemaking team at Mondavi, and helped craft many of the luxury cuvees that the Mondavi family were part of, including Opus One. So far Continuum is concentrating on a proprietary red, which is a Bordeaux style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Robert M. Parker Jr. rated the debut vintage at 95+ pts and called it “a brilliant beginning.”

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,