Pride Mountain Winery: Tasting Notes

Pride Mountain Vineyards is one of our favorites, not because its one of the best value 'cult wineries' but because it generally produces great wine for what wine fanatics would say are good prices - though I'm not sure any bottle in the $60 range can ever be considered a good value - these are very good wines.  Made my renowned wine maker Bob Foley, Pride consistency produces wines that not only taste well but are well liked by the industry experts. 

We're on the 'backup' Pride list and purchase what we can when we can, so we visit the winery (which is by appointment only) whenever we find ourselves up this way.  Pride is located, literally, on the border of Sonoma and Napa counties up on Spring Mountain (just off Spring Mountain Road).  So its not an easy location to get to but the views are incredible and if you plan in advance you can picnic on the property, which has several locations for visitors to eat from and/or enjoy their wine. 

Yesterday our tasting appointment was for 1:30 and we tasted the following wines:

• 2006 Chardonnay ($37 bottle) - Traditional white burgundian style, natural with light buttery (not European style) and easy to drink. 
• 2005 Cabernet Franc ($60) - Nice substance, less fruity and more earth tones - a trademark of the Pride Mountain / Spring Mountain vineyard location.  I like the balance in this wine, its perfect.
• 2005 Merlot ($56) - the best merlot I ever drank was a 2003 Pride Merlot, and this was another good one.  Supple with nice flavor and balance, its character is unusual for a Merlot, usually they are boring compared to the Cabernet.
• 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon ($66) - Very dry finish, chaulky even but easy with good character.  This wine needs several years to mellow out and allow its character to shine thru. 

This is a great place to visit, and though the wine is very expensive, I have rarely been disappointed with everything I've drank from Pride Mountain.