DUCKHORN
The Duckhorn Winery is tucked between the Napa River and the Silverado Trail, north of Saint Helena. Dan Duckhorn and his wife Margaret first planted vines here in 1976 and spent almost fifty years crafting a reputation as one of California’s greatest wine producers. In 2007, after years of strategic expansion and growth, they sold to private equity firm GI Partners. Dan and Margaret stayed on as part of the arrangement, eventually retiring in 2016.
After passing into a few more hands, which included being publicly listed on the stock exchange, in December 2024 Butterfly Equity, (a private equity firm) in an all-cash transaction, paid 1.95 billion US dollars for the group. A group that had by now grown to include six wineries: Duckhorn Vineyards, Goldeneye, Paraduxx, Migration, Decoy, and Canvasback, as well as vast vineyard holdings in Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Anderson Valley, and Washington State.
A recent tasting through most of their Duckhorn and Decoy range emphasized to me the magnificent legacy of the Duckhorn family, one which was to create a winery that is one of the great success stories of Napa Valley, producing some of its finest wines. While the family sold up and eventually retired in 2016, a trio of recent tastings confirmed to me that the wines continue to go from strength to strength.
Tasting recent and current vintages of Decoy and Duckhorn wines showed a substantial and consistent level of quality right across the range, all the wines were outstanding.
The Decoy Pinot Noir and the Napa Valley Cabernet I recently reviewed from a previous tasting. At this range-tasting, amongst a very full list of great wines, the absolute standouts for me were:
Decoy Zinfandel
Vintage: 2021
Varietal: 90% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah
Appellation: California
Maturation: 12 months in French oak, (30% new, 70% neutral)
I am a big fan of the Decoy wines, a label that last century started out life as a second label for the Duckhorn family, and has now blossomed to a stage where it has its own designated vineyards, including Decoy’s Ridgeline vineyard on Oak Mountain and the Brownell estate vineyards in the Alexander Valley of Sonoma County. The label now also has its own state-of-the-art winery in Hopland, just north of Sonoma County.
I also just love a good wine story and enjoyed the fact that the Decoy label features an artist’s rendition of an actual decoy carved in the 1930s by Richard “Fresh-Air Dick” Janson (1872–1951). Janson was a premier carver whose decoys are the most recognizable of all Pacific Coast carvings.
The benchmark of the Decoy wines is that they show pristine and true expressions of magnificent varietal fruit; they are clean, elegant, and undeniably charming wines. They are also incredibly good quality for their relatively affordable price points. However, of all the current release Decoy wines that I recently tried, I felt the Zinfandel had just that little bit more finesse and complexity; here is a wine that absolutely over-delivers for the money asked.
The aroma is beguiling and attractive with violets, dark fruits, forest berries, and plums- a touch of vanilla pod, cocoa, fruit mince, gingerbread and a fine line of all-spice as a mere accent in the bouquet.
The wine swirls onto the palate all boysenberries and creaminess, with a lovely compote of black fruits and currants mid-palate, there are fine, ripe, persistent tannins that caress the back palate, along with some refreshing acidity, and then there is a joyous flush of plum and hoi-sin lingering on the finish.
Pure delight in the glass and a wine poking its head up just above the rest of an exceptionally good suite of wines. 92/100
Decoy, Limited Release, Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2022
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon 90%, Merlot 10%
Appellation: Alexander Valley
Maturation: French oak barrels for 15 months (40% new, 60% neutral)
Aromas are all black currant and blackberry with a hint of fruitcake, cooking chocolate, and mixed peel. On the palate the wine is elegant and seamless, there is a creamy glide onto the palate, with a core of ripe forest berries, blackcurrant, mulberry, some mocha, vanilla pod and toasted almond characters from the oak, and with just a dab of peppermint towards the back palate. This all pushes through to the fine and integrated tannins, and a delightful mineral wash on the finish along with some bright acidity.
Very elegant and attractive, with a sleek, sophisticated profile wrapped around some exceptionally fine and complex fruit. 93/100
Three Palms Vineyard Merlot
2020 Duckhorn Vineyards, Napa Valley, Three Palms Vineyard, Merlot
Vintage: 2020
Varietal: Merlot 98%, Malbec 2%
Appellation: Napa Valley, Three Palms Vineyard
Maturation: French Oak, (75% new, 25% neutral)
A legendary wine from a near-perfect vintage.
Aromas are of mulberries, cranberries, a touch of earthier notes, some cocoa, and a hint of granola. The palate is an essay in concentration and elegance, with super-intense, ripe, red berry fruits, and the typically fine and plush, velvet tannins, all supported by flawless acidity. A harmonious balance of complex layers keep revealing more and more of themselves as the wine opens up. This is a remarkable wine with its high-wire act of intensity, poise, and sheer finesse.
One of the world’s great Merlots, from impeccable terroir, by one of the varieties finest producers. 96/100
The Discussion Red Blend
2020 Duckhorn Vineyards, The Discussion, Napa Valley, Red Blend
Vintage: 2020
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon 61%, Merlot 38%, Malbec 1%
Appellation: Napa Valley
Maturation: New French Oak 100%
All lots are kept separate for the first 18 months, then the blend is created and sent back into natural barrels for a further 6 months. The Discussion represents the pinnacle of the Duckhorn Vineyards portfolio, and the ongoing dialogue that defines great winemaking. The wine is crafted from the finest barrels of the finest parcels of fruit, from the finest blocks of the Estate’s own vineyards.
Aromas elicit visions of chocolate-covered black fruits -forest berries, cherry, raspberries, plum, black current and more. A touch of pomegranate, licorice, violets, hazelnuts, and toasty oak also emerge from the glass. The palate shows a truly magnificent wine, creamy and alluring on entry, the mouth fills with the attractive and concentrated flavours of ripe forest berries, red fruits, black fruits, mocha, cigar box, the wine is complex and with great depth. Again there is beautiful poise and elegance, this wine is all class, the oak is seamless and integrated, the tannins fine and ripe, the acidity on point and in harmony with the rest of the choir. Just an absolutely brilliant Californian Red Wine. 97/100
A longtime admirer and imbiber of the Duckhorn winery, I could not have been more impressed by the range of wines here, the current releases represent a very consistent level of exceptional quality and character.
I certainly look forward to the next opportunity to taste the wines, but that’s another discussion, and (probably) another three vineyards and perhaps even more as the Decoys work their magic.
Darren Gall
