Jonata 'El Desafio' Red Wine 2005
(Ballard Canyon, CA)
Regular price $273.00 Sale price $149.98 Save $123.02
About the Wine:
Jonata Wines is a Californian wine producer, located in the Ballard Canyon within the larger Santa Ynez Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). It is the sister winery to Napa Valley’s Screaming Eagle and also produces wine from the Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc grape varieties amoungst others.
The flagship wine from the portfolio is the El Desafio, a Cabernet Sauvignon that includes tiny proportions of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, availible via allocation only. Multiple red blends are produced from the estate including the Fenix, a Bordeaux-style that is predominately Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The La Miel is a dessert-style wine from Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc that is barrel-aged in French oak prior to bottling.
The 33 hectares (84 acres) of vineyard is owned by sports mogul Stan Kroenke. Here, the highly sandy soils are planted to Syrah, Sangiovese and multiple Bordeaux varieties. Cabernet varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc have successfully born fruit, an unusual feat in the Ballard Canyon.
The name Jonata stems from the 1845 'Rancho San Carlos de Jonata' Spanish land grant that at the time, spanned a large proportion of the Santa Ynez Valley. This word was in fact borrowed from the Native American Chumash people and translates as 'tall oak'.