2019 Krupp Brothers Winery, The Water Witch, Red Wine, Napa Valley.
I highly recommend visiting the Krupp Brothers estate off the Silverado Trail, the Tuscan style villa and views are absolutely stunning, as well as are the wines, like this full bodied and darkly, almost inky hued The Water Witch red wine, made from 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Syrah, 12% Cabernet Franc and 6% Malbec, making for a seriously impressive and unique wine. This California hybrid Bordeaux blend, with a dose of Syrah, is ripe and luxurious on the palate with a dense layering of blackberry, blueberry pie filling, plum, black cherry and creme de cassis, along with an array of spicy elements, toasty sweet cedar, anise, cigar wrapper and mocha notes. This vintage is a classic opulent Napa vintage with loads of fruit and super smooth tannins, delivering incredible richness and hedonistic textures, it is a year that can be enjoyed young and still has the stuffing to age a few decades. This wine was sourced from elevated hillside sites, all over a thousand feet above the valley floor, including the Stagecoach Vineyard, which the Krupp’s founded, but have now sold, the newer Krupp Brothers Estate, J2 and the Sleeping Lady Vineyard, set on a combination of Gravelly Loam, Haire Loam, Hambright complex soils. This wine typically sees an elevage of 19 months in barrel, with recent vintages getting close to 25% new French oak, helping to soften the grip, but allowing for the fruit purity to shine through.
A new era has begun at the Krupp Brothers Winery, and I was excited to try the 2019s here, which are mostly still available, including this one, which I bought at the winery on my last visit. It should also be noted these wines, as I mentioned in my prior reviews, are now being made by the home grown and talented winemaker Desiree O’Donovan, who has been with the Krupps for a while now, and after working behind the scenes at a few notable wineries is taking her opportunity to show what she can do at the Krupp Brothers winery, with impressive results. There’s a real excitement here and these wines are expressive, authentic and pure, I highly recommend visiting this estate, as well as checking out their Napa tasting lounge and I really suggest not missing these latest offerings. Jan and Bart Krupp, who founded and planted the famous Stagecoach Vineyard in late 1990s, which is one of the premier sites in the eastern hills of the Napa Valley, nestled between Pritchard Hill and Howell Mountain, and widely acclaimed for the incredible quality of the grapes. This awesome vineyard, that the brothers Krupp sold recently to Gallo, yes that Gallo, still provides the fruit for some their collection of wines, though they now have multiple sources for high end grapes. This Water Witch, named for the actual water witch that found the well at Stagecoach Vineyard that helped the Krupp’s establish this legendary estate, is one of the limited bottlings Krupp Brothers offer, only about 500 cases made, and one I suggest to keep an eye out for, along with their Cabernet Sauvignon(s) and Syrah(s), especially the Black Bart.
($95 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive