Napa Valley Red

Horseradish and pepper crusted tenderloin with port reduction. Braised shortribs.

A vintage that demanded experience and selection, 2011 was characterized by unusually wet conditions. The growing season began with a cold spring, delaying bloom after an early budbreak. Summer’s average temperatures prolonged the growing season. Rains at the beginning of October precipitated a selective harvest, where our Bordeaux experience of such conditions proved to be very useful.

In the late 1960s while attending the University of California at Davis Christian Moueix fell in love with the Napa Valley and its wines. Son of Jean-Pierre Moueix the famed wine merchant and producer from Libourne France Moueix returned home in 1970 to manage the family vineyards including Chateaux Petrus La Fleur-Petrus Trotanoy in Pomerol and Magdelaine in Saint Emilion. His love of Napa Valley lingered and in 1981 he discovered the historic Napanook vineyard a 124-acre site west of Yountville that had been the source of fruit for some of the finest Napa Valley wines of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1982 Moueix entered into a partnership to develop the vineyard and in 1995 became its sole owner. He chose the name 'Dominus' or 'Lord of the Estate' in Latin to underscore his longstanding commitment to stewardship of the land.