USA - Producers

Question 1

Where is Screaming Eagle located?
Major Cuvees?
Second Labels?
First vintages?

Answer 1

• One of the original California cult wines located in Oakville Napa
• Owner and winery founder Jean Philips was selling grapes to other Napa Valley wineries she decided in 1992 to make her own wine.
• Jean Phillips sold the winery to Charles Banks and Stan Kroenke in 2006. They replanted vineyards, extended production volumes and raised the price tag another notch.
• The ‘white Screaming Eagle’, made from barrel fermented was initially supposed to be a small treat (50 cases or 600 bottles) exclusive to the winery’s long-lasting customers, only available via the official mailing-list and launched at $250 in 2012 (first-ever vintage released on the market was 2010). It wasn’t long though, before the wine was traded and speculated upon on the secondary market, via brokers or auction houses. So much so in fact that it now fetches more than the Cab Sauv!
• Screaming Eagle’s iconic red wine is made from Cabernet Sauvignon, generally blended with some Merlot (15-20%) and a small proportion of Cabernet Franc. The wine is aged in 65% new French oak barrels for nearly two years. The rocky vineyard’s grapes are sourced from a West-facing hillside in the Oakville Appellation, east of the Napa River. Facing West (towards the sunset, shadowed from the morning sun), the slopes benefit from Napa’s warm afternoons allowing to ripen the heat-demanding Cabernet grapes. Yet, the vineyard also benefits from the cooling effect of the ocean breezes coming from the San Pablo Bay, from the late afternoon all the way until late morning.

The average annual production of Screaming Eagle Napa Cab Sauv is around 500 cases only (6000 bottles). The original winemaker in 1992 was Heidi Barret, later replaced by Andy Erickson. Nick Gislason, who previously worked at Harlan Estate, is the current winemaker at Screaming Eagle, which he has been since 2012.

• The winery’s second label called ‘Second Flight’ was first released in 2012 has a base of Merlot rather than Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Cabernet Franc.