Our Deep Dark Secret: The Clos Pegase Caves
		Mythology

In Vineyard Veritas:
The Clos Pegase Estate

To be designated "estate bottled" a wine must be made exclusively from grapes grown in the winery's own vineyards. It's the vineyards and the varieties planted in them that define a great estate winery and a great estate wine. Not every winery chooses to go that route. We wouldn't have it any other way.

It's a question of knowing -- and controlling -- exactly how every grape we work with makes its way from the soil to the glass. We never sacrifice quality in pursuit of larger yields, but rather insist on vigilant attention to viticultural practices which achieve an ideal balance of vigor and fruit load.

Our estate is located at both ends of the Napa Valley, where nature and science have come together to create one of the finest wine-producing regions of the world.

The estate comprises 455 acres, of which 90 are in the Calistoga area, known for its ripe, jammy reds, and the balance are in cool Carneros to the south, where the valley meets the San Francisco Bay.

Just south of Calistoga, fine, loamy sands surround the winery itself, known as the Home Ranch. Here, we've planted to the classic blendings of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Merlot. In this sunny plain, the fruit ripens slowly, developing the complex notes of spice that distinguish our Cabernet Sauvignon and Reserve Cabernet Hommage.

To the north of Calistoga in the foothills of Mount St. Helena, is our Palisades Vineyard -- 40 acres of ruggedly austere "horizontal hillside." This alluvial fan spills out of the Palisades Mountains in the northeastern corner of the Napa Valley. You're familiar with the saying "adversity builds character"? Well, here, the stony terrain produces some of the finest Cabernet grapes in the valley. The poor soil, dry and deeply drained, yields a meager but exquisitely concentrated crop of Cabernet Sauvignon, providing the fine aromatics and plummy ripe fruit of our Cabernet blends.

Mitsuko's Vineyard spans 365 acres of the Carneros area. With a diverse range of soil types, elevations and microclimates, this vineyard was planted to Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir and, surprisingly, Cabernet Sauvignon. There aren't many Cabernet grapes grown in Carneros, but our vineyard includes a rocky, well-drained hillside that's proven ideal for Cabernet (despite -- or perhaps in keeping with -- its foreboding name, Graveyard Hill).

Taken all together, it's the qualities of these three sites that create the Clos Pegase style: the sunny ripeness of Home Ranch, the austere elegance of Palisades and the fog-shrouded coolness of Carneros. Rather than bending our wines to meet our whims, we let the vineyards be our guides, and we do our best to capture and reflect their distinctive personalities in the glass.

Our Deep Dark Secret - The Clos Pegase Caves

Carved deep into the rock knoll beyond Clos Pegase are 20,000 square feet of aging caves. In the deep stillness of the caves, our wines age gracefully in the finest French oak cooperage. Free of air-conditioner vibration, they enjoy ideal year-round temperature and humidity until they emerge as mature, sophisticated wines.

The caves are also home to our renowned Cave Theater, a magically inviting space often used for celebrations and special events.