2009 Enkidu "E" Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Enkidu takes its name from a character in the ancient Sumerian epic poem Gilgamesh. Enkidu was best friend to the hero Gilgamesh, and while the hero was out doing heroic deeds, Enkidu was tasked with stewardship of the land and animals. Winemaker Phil Staehle, owner and founder of Enkidu winery, notes that in the poem Enkidu becomes “more cultured and refined over time….in the same way a grape does as it journeys from the vine, through the vinification process, to a finished wine.” Staehle has been making wine in northern California since the 1980s. At Enkidu he focuses on Syrah, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. The wines have won compliments and ratings in the 90s from reviewers, and Robert M. Parker Jr. has called them “elegant.”

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,

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.