Welcome to EMH’s website and the release of “Black Cat” 2007!
The 2007 “Black Cat” Cabernet Sauvignon is our eighth vintage, continuing the line of wine produced from single-vineyard fruit grown right here on EMH’s property. In 2007, we were able to produce 140 cases of wine from our vineyard, a modest increase from the 125 case production of the 2006 vintage. 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 2007, and that you will discover for yourself what makes the “Black Cat” so special.

EMH 2007 “Black Cat” Tasting Notes
Jim Gallagher (Jim Gallagher’s Wine Seminars of San Francisco), EMH’s consultant, offers his notes on the 2007 “Black Cat” from his tasting in October of 2009:

“Medium dark red, purple edge. Rich bouquet of raspberry, cherry, chocolate, vanilla and sweet oak. Medium-light body, superb fruit, good-acid tannin balance; superb finish: rich, long, luscious aftertaste.  The 2007 is remarkably forward, while showing a robust nature. The fruit profile is the “Black Cat” Cabernet template with firm tannins. While it can be enjoyed at present, it has major promise for gaining further complexity in four to twelve years.”

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 had the opportunity to taste vintages 2001 through 2007 at a vertical tasting here in October 2009 – be sure to check out those notes which have been added to each vintage’s page. It was an exciting tasting, and 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 – 2008 and 2009
Finally, looking ahead, we have been tasting the 2008 vintage, which will be bottled in the spring of 2010. The 2008 yielded dramatically reduced tonnage, and is expected to produce a mere 100 cases. The 2008 growing season was the most difficult growing season in memory, even for the most seasoned of growers. Fortunately, despite killing frosts, blistering heat waves, drought, and the hungriest birds in memory, the vineyard cooperated in yielding beautiful, ripe fruit at moderate sugar levels, and most certainly will not disappoint!

We harvested 2.7 tons in September of 2009, and as of this writing, that wine has not been pressed or gone to barrel. All indications are that our tenth anniversary vintage will display the EMH “Black Cat” character you have come to appreciate in our classically-styled Cabernet Sauvignon. We anticipate that it will be lower in alcohol than our most recent vintages, perhaps displaying the elegance of our 2001 vintage, which is a current favorite of many of our mailing list clients.

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

Enjoy and cheers!

Merrill Lindquist, owner, EMH Vineyards

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