Our Reserve Tier wines represent the pinnacle of our estate, sourced from the most distinctive blocks across our property and benefit from specialized winemaking techniques that bring out their fullest expression. Crafted with care by our Brassfield winemaking team, they reflect our commitment to sustainable farming, classic methods, and purity of flavor, resulting in wines of depth, balance, and exceptional character.
Every one of our wines are 100% Estate Grown, Produced, and Bottled in our High Valley AVA home.
The Block 14 Cabernet Sauvignon—sourced from our High Serenity Vineyard, a high-density, single-block site perched on a raised bench between the valley floor and the ridgeline.
At Brassfield Estate, our winemaking emphasizes traditional, hand-crafted techniques and uncompromising quality. Block 14 Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested in the early morning to preserve freshness and precision. Fruit was carefully sorted and gently transferred to maintain whole berries, then fermented using a combination of stainless steel tanks with pump overs and oak puncheons with twice-daily punch downs to build structure and depth. The wine was aged for 18 months in barrel—40% new French oak and 60% neutral—with malolactic fermentation occurring in our wine caves. Monthly lees stirring enhanced body, texture, and integration, resulting in a wine that balances power with elegance and is built to evolve gracefully over time.
This is a firmly structured yet refined Cabernet—defined by elevation, ancient soils, and deliberate craftsmanship—offering a singular expression of High Serenity Vineyard Block 14.
Tasting Notes:
Well-concentrated and structured, with aromas of ripe black currant and blue fruit. The palate is robust and focused, framed by tight, gripping tannins that carry ripe dark fruit through a long, persistent finish. Subtle baking spice and floral notes of rosewood and violet add layers of complexity and polish.
Why Choose Block 14 Cabernet Sauvignon:
The Reserve Cabernet—crafted only in standout vintages from our most elevated vineyard blocks and made with unwavering attention to detail.
We ferment select lots in 600L open-top puncheons, using twice-daily punch downs to extract depth, structure, and fine tannins. Each lot receives tailored yeast and nutrient protocols, allowing us to fully express the unique character of the fruit. Aged in 40% new French oak of the highest quality, the Reserve Cabernet also undergoes secondary and long-term aging in large-format barrels (500L–600L), which enhance integration, preserve freshness, and contribute to the wine’s graceful aging potential. This wine is built to evolve beautifully in bottle, thanks to extended aging and meticulous barrel-by-barrel blending.
This is a bold yet refined Cabernet—our most cellar-worthy expression—shaped by site, vintage, and intention at every step.
Tasting Notes:
Layered and elegant, an expression of High Valley terroir. Highest quality oak and fruit. Lifted fruits and floral traits.
Why Choose our Reserve Cabernet:
For our Reserve Pinot Noir, we select fruit from the exceptional blocks of our estate to ensure intense flavor and structure. This wine undergoes maceration and fermentation in small open-top puncheons with daily punch-downs by hand to ensure extraction and softness. Aging takes place in new and seasoned French oak barrels, which imparts elegant spice and enhances the wine’s layered profile. Throughout the process, we carefully monitor the wine’s development to craft a barrel-by-barrel selected, refined, balanced, and age-worthy Pinot Noir.
Reserve Pinot Noir Tasting Notes:
Complex and balanced, more extract with fruit intensity and aromatic impact, an expression of High Valley terroir. Highest quality oak and fruit.
Why Choose our Reserve Pinot Noir:
Perspective Syrah — a wine shaped as much by the steep, scenic, rock-strewn terrain of Perspective Vineyard as by the meticulous care in its crafting.
Fruit from the Perspective Vineyard is hand-picked at first light, when the grapes are fresh and vibrant. Clusters are gently crushed and introduced to our open-top oak fermenters where daily punch downs breathe life into fermentation, nurturing flavor and vitality.
From there, the wine is sent to our underground caves, undergoing malolactic fermentation in French and Hungarian oak barrels. Over months of sur lie aging, we stir the lees by hand, practicing bâtonnage regularly to invite texture and weight to develop naturally. It’s a method both ancient and intentional. We bottle without fining and with only the gentlest filtration, preserving the integrity of the aromatics and the essence of the vineyard.
Every decision in the making of Perspective Syrah is guided by a singular vision: to let the wine tell its own story, one shaped by origin, tradition, and time.
Perspective Syrah Tasting Notes:
Aromas of blackberry compote, lifted by violet florals and a crackle of black pepper. The palate layers mulberry, black tea, and black cherry over a rich, velvety texture. Hints of vanilla and caramel lead into a long, graceful finish with dried herbs and oak spice. A bold, complex wine that balances depth with elegance. Polished tannins lend structure and poise, elevating the wine’s refined character. Each sip reveals another nuance, a slow reveal of complexity in the lingering, flavorful finish.
Why Choose our Perspective Syrah
Our vineyards range from the High Valley floor up to the surrounding volcanic ridges. The unique nature of this terrain’s microclimates makes for challenging growing, and the resulting wines are made to stand up to that challenge. From the two exposures of the Monte Sereno Vineyard to the top of Volcano Ridge, Brassfield Estate’s grapes are dynamic in their character and delicious in their flavor
It only makes sense that a ridge created by something as intense as a volcanic eruption (or rather, hundreds of eruptions), should create grapes of intense richness & complexity.
Originally planted in 2003 and 2004, Volcano Ridge (created by hundreds of eruptions from the nearby Round Mountain Volcano) totals 85 acres devoted to all red varietals, with numerous clones of each (primarily 110R rootstock). At 1900 – 2200 ft. elevation, the volcanic sands and tephra (small, fused sand pebbles) of the Konocti Series make for excellent drainage. Vines struggle in these soils, and the intensity of that struggle is reflected in the layers of complexity and structure, in the concentrated fruit, and in the final expression of Volcano Ridge wines.
Stressful growing conditions make for excellent wine. Perspective Vineyard is both remarkably dramatic -the kind of place only a grape vine could survive.
Planted in 2008 with clones of Syrah and Viognier, the Franciscan shale of Perspective Vineyard on our western-most ridge overlooks Clear Lake. Its 2,717 elevation ( Height of Burj Khalifa) makes for a rocky and well-drained vineyard. A windy site and lean location, along with the density of 5×3 spacing (2900 vines per acre) provide the desirable stress to perfect one of the best growing locations in the world for our Perspectives Syrah
Our home ranch on the westside of the High Valley AVA has been known as “High Serenity Ranch” for over one hundred years.
The blocks planted to this idyllic site include Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Gewürztraminer. Each block is comprised of ancient lakebed and alluvial soils from the surrounding mountain range. The transverse valley winds create some of the coolest sites in Lake County. The lower temperatures on the valley floor allow for diurnal temperature swings of more than forty degrees, enhancing flavor development while retaining a crisp acidity.
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