Rocket Science by Caldwell 2021 Proprietary Red Napa Valley

The Story: John Caldwell grew up in Napa into a family that ran a shoe business. John eventually turned one business into many more.  Living in Napa and making money, he purchased 54 acres of land and had plans to develop some homes.  Unfortunately, that backfired and now he was “stuck” with 54 acres of dirt.  He had been on trips to France, and one thing let to another that he was going to start a vineyard.  On one of his trips, he decided that the only way to get vines from France was to smuggle them into the country.  With the help of some friends in New York and Canada, he started to bring in vines from Haut Brion.  Unfortunately on his last of 5 trips he got caught by customs agents.  They wound up confiscating his last load, but John got lucky that via a lawyer friend he was released with a warning and a fine.  His 4300 vines were in a barn in Napa and that started the success story that Caldwell Vineyard would become years later.

The Story II: In the mid-late 90’s I met John and we tasted through some barrels, when he said, you know this is not “Rocket Science”!  At that time, Philippe Melka was his winemaker, and the next day Melka asked him what that “blend” was all about that he made the day before.  That said, John created “Rocket Science” under my eyes and a new brand was born. So many years later, I am still a big fan of this wine and his first retail account!

Tasting Notes: A voluptuous nose is dominated by black raspberry, black currant, ripe blueberries, black olive, cassis, clove, and white pepper. A raspberry attack leads to a full, juicy mouth of ripe plums and cherries. The structured cocoa tannins give way to a long finish of chocolate-covered strawberries.

Winemaker’s Notes: “Made exclusively of Caldwell Vineyard estate fruit, it’s an engineering feat combining art, science, and a little fifth dimension magic for a heady ride through time and space. Bursting with dark matter tannins and full-throttle fruit flavors, it offers maximum taste velocity balanced by light, ethereal notes indicative of its earthbound Coombsville coordinates. Larger than life, it’s expansive on the palate with cranberry, pomegranate, and blackberry-cinnamon fruit, it’s got plenty of integrated oak tannin, meaty Syrah-inspired spice, and mid-palate weight. You’d have to be a rocket scientist to find a better Napa wine at this price.  Small crop as we only made what we harvested before the fires started”