Welcome to EMH’s website and the release of Black Cat 2009!

The 2009 EMH Black Cat Cabernet Sauvignon is our 10th vintage, continuing the line of wine produced from single-vineyard fruit grown right here on EMH’s property. In September of 2009 we harvested 2.7 tons, which yielded approximately 175 cases of Black Cat wine. This is the largest yield from the vineyard to date, and it coincided with the 10th Anniversary of harvesting grapes from our vineyard. Thirty-five cases were bottled as our first “Special Selection,” leaving plenty of goodness for approximately 140 cases of our regular Black Cat bottling.

Our tiny operation produces wine exclusively from Cabernet grapes grown on our less-than-an-acre vineyard, with no additions of purchased fruit. What is in the bottle directly represents what is grown in our vineyard. Most people who taste more than one vintage of EMH’s Black Cat are impressed with the consistency of quality and character that emerges from each vintage we produce. We hope you will enjoy the 2009, and that you will discover for yourself what makes the Black Cat so special.

EMH 2009 Black Cat Tasting Notes
Jim Gallagher (Jim Gallagher’s Wine Seminars of San Francisco), EMH’s consultant, offers his notes on the 2009 Black Cat from our July 2, 2011 tasting:

“Dark red hue with a vibrant purple edge. A bouquet of rich raspberry, blackberry, light Asian spice tea, and toast. Medium body and superb fruit, showing nice fruit and acid melding. A superb finish: rich, long and succulent aftertaste—amazing mouth feel.  In general, the flavor profile is highly consistent with notes taken several months ago, with the added integration and seamless evolution in the finish. While drinking well at present, the 2009 will continue to improve for the next 2-5 years, and will provide plenty of pleasure for many years to come.”

For additional information, see detailed tasting notes in our Wine Section.

Notes on Previous Vintages
Many of you ask how the previous vintages are drinking, if we have current notes or comments on the older wines, and if we have any drink-or-hold recommendations on the earlier vintages. You can now access this information in the Wine Section of this website, beneath the original tasting note that was published upon release.  We are very happy to report that all vintages are showing well and are in no danger of decline. If you can resist temptation, the Black Cat definitely improves with age, and is an ideal candidate for cellaring.

Looking Ahead – 2010 and 2011
The 2010 vintage is right behind the 2008 in terms of difficulty in farming. In an otherwise remarkably cool growing season, we had three separate multi-day heat waves of 100 degrees and above. This resulted in some loss of clusters and berries within clusters, all of which had to be meticulously sorted out before and during harvest, and then again at the winery. We managed to cull 2.2 tons of beautiful fruit from the vines, which produced 5 barrels or an anticipated 125 cases of the 2010 vintage. Of note was the gorgeous color of the fruit in the fermenting bins – one of Black Cat’s dominant characteristics - and barrel samples indicate the wine is retaining that color. Our winemaker is thrilled with the flavors, as well. It is too early to tell if there is a possibility of another Special Selection bottling, a question many of you have been asking.

The 2011 growing season got off to a late start, with cool rainy weather hanging around much longer into the spring and early summer. While some growers are experiencing some devastating losses due to poor fruit set resulting from rains during bloom, our weather pattern and rootstock/clone combination appear to have spared us this. The exception is the portion of the vineyard that is planted to St. George rootstock: those vines have experienced greater than normal shatter and actual “fizzle” of some clusters. These are robust vines that normally require some paring down of clusters or green harvest – perhaps this year nature has taken care of that process for us! The vines are lush and healthy, with plenty of canopy to provide protection for our well-formed clusters from any heat spike that comes our way.

So welcome, or welcome back! We look forward to hearing from you.

Enjoy and cheers!

Merrill Lindquist, owner, EMH Vineyards

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