94pts James Suckling

This cool and composed red is well balanced, fresh and a bit restrained in texture while offering ample red and black fruit. Cherries, raspberries, savory herbs and blackcurrants on a moderately tannic texture. Drink now or hold.

About the Wine

JML (Jung Min Lee – our owner) is the inspiration for all the SECRET DOOR wines. In this case, we wanted to create a 2nd label for SECRET DOOR. It needed to be a statement about our founder but also signal that this wine is different from the two single vineyard primary Cabernet Sauvignon wines we make for SECRET DOOR.

How are they similar? This is basically the exact same winemaking and attention to detail we give our flagship wines. We start in the vineyard with exacting standards for the grapes from our Napa Valley sources and then run the regular program as if it was going to be a single vineyard wine for all the grapes. We want to get the very best out of this wine. We think that the JML makes a great “little sister” wine to the “Empress Level” wines from Sage Ridge Vineyard and Hirondelle Vineyard.

How are the wines different? Although they begin in the same mode, we begin to see differences in the barrels of each wine fairly early on in their development. In addition, we selected barrels from the other two vineyard sources to create a blend that we felt would show very well as a younger wine. Think of it as a serious wine but also one that we’d like to see mature more rapidly to be drinkable now. We were specifically thinking about using it for restaurants – today (mid COVID-19 pandemic) we are thinking about how great this would be to drink over the next 3-5 years at home, too!

About the Winery

SECRET DOOR WINERY is a company founded by Donald Patz and Jung Min Lee. It is a love story. When Donald met Jung Min and their love blossomed; Jung Min told Donald that while his wines from Patz & Hall were “nice” her preference was Bordeaux and Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

Jung Min Lee was a real supporter of Donald Patz’s time at Patz & Hall eventually learning to love Pinot Noir, too. Donald had promised Jung Min that if she would move to California from Virginia to be with him he would – someday – make a Cabernet Sauvignon wine for her.