The Wines
Living creatures, constantly evolving, that have captured a moment in time in a specific place.
Perliss wines range across a spectrum from white to orange to red, and in varying proportions of terracotta and oak. The varietals are unblended, allowing for pure and sometimes surprising expressions.
The Ravens Cabernet Sauvignon
100% Cabernet Sauvignon from our estate vineyard, The RAVENS. Yields are kept down and farmed organically to achieve the best expression of the fruit. The grapes are hand-harvested then naturally fermented with the vineyard's indigenous yeast.
The wine is aged for over 20 months in Tuscan terracotta amphora and French oak barrels made by small-production coopers. It is bottled unfiltered and unfined. Beautiful aromatics, elegant structure, and fantastic length characterize this Cabernet of great aging potential.
Bottles are hand-dipped in a soft wax, whose color recalls the bark of the beloved Manzanita plants that characterize our Calistoga landscape.
Vintage Notes
2019 The Ravens
AARON POTT'S TASTING NOTES:
NOSE: Rose, plum, violet, cherry, roast duck.
PALATE: A little tighter than the PEARL. Attack of plum, cherry, coffee, butterscotch.
FINISH: More structured finish with some tannins from the French oak; smokey, caramel, plum linger with cocoa.
AARON POTT'S ART DIRECTION: "Secret Garden"
For Aaron, the 2019 RAVENS is about a promenade in a garden - redolent of flowers, fruits, earth, woods - and vibrating with life - vegetal, insect, avian, floral. Painted by Anthony Perliss with Chinese ink on rice paper.
2018 The Ravens
AARON POTT'S TASTING NOTES:
NOSE: Espresso, bacon, nutmeg, cola, black cherry, bay, blueberry, violets, iodine, leather, new motor oil, walnut, coconut.
PALATE: Big attack and flavor. Plum, cherry, nutmeg, cocoa, espresso.
FINISH: Espresso, cherries, plum, cocoa, tobacco.
AARON POTT'S ART DIRECTION: "Marea"
For Aaron, the 2018 RAVENS transported him back to a childhood trip to Venice. The city was flooding, experiencing one its «alta marea» submersions. Unperturbed, Aaron strapped plastic bags over his shoes, waded to the nearest cafe, redolent of coffee, tobacco and pastries, and returned with steaming espresso to his mother.
Anthony Perliss took this recollection as a departure for painting the label, featuring a backward gazing Raven among streaming flows of water (or perhaps coffee) inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's study of hydrodynamics.
2017 The Ravens
TASTING NOTES: The RAVENS 2017 displays seamless structure and a broad, vivid spectrum of notes ranging from violet, clove, and sandalwood on the nose, to candied citrus peel, umeboshi plum, and cocoa on the palate. Aaron felt this wine has "everything in place," detecting greater concentration and complexity this vintage, even a bit of flashiness.
PAPER LABEL INTRODUCTION: 2011-2016 vintages of The RAVENS feature screen-printed bottles. Starting with 2017, the bottles present paper labels, changing each vintage to reflect the contents. 2017 was a year of devastating fire for Perliss Estate. Luckily, 55 cases worth of fruit was harvested before the incendiary night. Here the Raven assumes the pose of a phoenix rising from its ashes. Painted by Anthony Perliss with Chinese ink on rice paper.
2016 The Ravens
Nose: Cherry, malted chocolate, nutmeg, plum, toffee, violets, clove, vanilla, smoked duck, cedar, sandalwood, eucalyptus.
Palate: Big attack with very ripe stone fruits, candied citrus, cherry, cocoa, cranberry, red currants, pomegranate, forest humus.
Finish: Everything in place, note of umeboshi salted plum. Great concentration and complexity this vintage, even a bit of flashiness.
Visual: "Svayambhu" by Anish Kapoor: A silently dynamic and powerfully mysterious experience of scale, depth, and volume.
Should be decanted 30 minutes to 1 hour before drinking.
2015 The Ravens
Nose: Plum, leather, caramel, cedar, cigar box, mineral: wet clay, black currants, basil, grilled steak.
Palate: Cherry, licorice, plum, black currant, rosemary, clay and roasted meat, earthy, ferrous.
Finish: Soft tannins and great layering, and length on the palate. With roast meat, cherry, black currant and leather.
Visual: "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" by Joos Goeimare: A feast for the senses and a delight for the spirit. Sublime and earthy - an embodiment of grace and luminosity.
Should be decanted 30 minutes to 1 hour before drinking.
2014 The Ravens
Nose: Plum, cherry, ash, tar, toffee, red currant, cedar, cocoa powder, roast duck, rosemary, bay.
Palate: Plum and Cherry in the attack. Fig, cherry, plum, roast beef in the mid palate.
Finish: Sage, cherry, plum and cocoa powder buttressed by robust tannins with polished corners for aging.
Visual: "Ashes" by Edvard Munch: beautiful, edgy, complex, weighty and innately profound. Pleasing, but at the same time and confusing, like many things from Norway.
Should be decanted 30 minutes to 1 hour before drinking.
2013 The Ravens
Nose: Black currant, cherry, cedar, toffee, roasted almonds, cocoa, rosemary, lavender, beef stock,
Palate: Very big bright attack, juicy core of roast meats, toffee, perfect acidity balance with a brilliant complex interplay of sweet and savory, light and dark, meaty and fruity.
Finish: Mint, currants, chocolate and roast beef in a mushroom reduction sauce.
Visual: Jan Van Eyck's "Arnolfini Wedding Portrait"
Very complex, with great balance, seemingly dark and serious but upon closer inspection light and pregnant with possibility...
2012 The Ravens
Nose: Boysenberry, wet rock, moist tobacco, malted chocolate, leather, bay and nutmeg, toffee.
Palate: Fat rich attack, with density and layers of supple flesh. Incredible umami mid-palate with fresh porcini and roast beef au jus finishes back to fresh blackberry and coffee.
The wine changes so quickly with air it is astonishing, almost Salome-like in its revealing layers. A wine evocative of desire, tension, transformation and immediate pleasure, it is «La Maja Desnuda» by Francisco Goya.
2011 The Ravens
Nose: Blackberry, roast beef, violets, black licorice, toffee, fig and quince, black currants, cedar in a lovely, well integrated nose.
Palate: Roast duck and black truffle attack, layers of soft billowy tannins, leads to mid-palate, managing to stay nimble and avoid being cloying, with beautifully balanced acidity.
Finish: Soft & velvety finish that reminds one of the guy throwing closed the lock in Fragonard’s "Le Verrou," confident of future pleasure. With coconut and dark chocolate in persistent finish.
Should be decanted 30 minutes before serving at 65°F.
Pearl of the Ravens Amphora-Aged Cabernet Sauvignon
Whereas The RAVENS is comprised of wine aged 80% in oak and 20% in clay, PEARL of the RAVENS flips that ratio, placing the pure virtues of crafting in terracotta in the forefront, and relegating the oak to a supporting role.
PEARL of the RAVENS strikes the perfect balance between richness and luminosity. Brightness courses through the dark fruit and earthy notes. The wine has ideal weight, fine tannins, and a beautiful, lingering finish.
Surprisingly smooth in its youth, the tannins innate to our wine benefit from aging and promise a long drinking window. This sleek expression of Cabernet Sauvignon will gain in complexity and depth over time.
The Heron Petit Verdot
Introducing The HERON: a bold tribute to Petit Verdot, a Bordeaux varietal (aka, Heran) typically relegated to a supporting role as a blending grape. We've elevated this grape to center stage, allowing its unique character to shine in its purest expression. Honed by the Maestro Aaron Pott, The HERON highlights the powerful Petit Verdot, evoking rich notes of India ink, fennel, blackcurrant, cocoa, tar, and tobacco. 2022. With only 130 cases produced, this limited-production creation offers a rare addition to your cellar.
Snakeskin Skin-contact Sémillon
The SERPENTS grapes, treated as if they were red. I.e., rather than the light and fast processing that most white grapes undergo, the whole clusters are punched down and left macerating on its skins, seeds, and stems for about two months in Tuscan terracotta amphora, then aged another 14 months.
The resulting animal that emerges, although related to its white counterpart, has entirely different aromatics, tannin structure, and, of course, color - a shimmering amber hue. As this wine is The SERPENTS, but with extended skin contact, it's naturally called SNAKESKIN.
SNAKESKIN bucks preconceptions of what to expect from white grapes, offering notes of tea, toasted almond, apricot, and jasmine. This is a fascinating food wine, sure to inspire unprecedented pairings.
The Serpents Sémillon
100% Sémillon sourced from The Bavarian Lion vineyard in Knights Valley. This native Bordeaux grape is used to make iconic Sauternes dessert wines. Here in its dry form, the wine is opulent and layered while maintaining bright liveliness and snake-like length.
The Serpents has excellent aging potential - notes of honey and beeswax will bloom over time as the wine develops its complexity. The grapes were hand-harvested and naturally fermented with the vineyard's indigenous yeasts, then aged for 16 months in Tuscan terra-cotta amphora and neutral French oak barrels. The finished wine was bottled unfiltered and hand-dipped in beeswax.
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