HONOLULU – Locally-owned Langtry Estate & Vineyards, one of California Lake County’s leading wineries, has reintroduced its top-tier Langtry line as single vineyard wines from its best estate vineyards. The first wines released in the new Langtry line, with a completely redesigned label, include the 2006 Lillie Sauvignon Blanc ($25) and the 2004 Serpentine Meadow Petite Sirah ($40). The 2005 Tephra Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon ($40), the 2006 Genevieve Chardonnay ($35) and the 2005 Estate Serpentine Meadow Petite Sirah Port ($50) will be released this fall.

The 2006 Lillie Sauvignon Blanc name comes from the Lillie Vineyard, a five-acre block named for Victorian actress Lillie Langtry, who originally planted grapes on the estate. Sauvignon Blanc is one of Lake County’s best-known varietals, and this vineyard, with its shallow, magnesium-laced soils that keep yields low, produces exceptional fruit. The wine was practically fermented in one year old French oak barrels, with the balance cold-fermented in stainless steel. The wine is concentrated and complex, displaying flavors of zesty citrus, grapefruit, and melon aromas precede a mix of mango, guava and tropical fruit flavors that finished bright and crisp, with just a hint of sweet oak.

Langtry Estate & Vineyards specializes in Petite Sirah, and the new 2004 Serpentine Meadow Petite Sirah represents its top-of-the-line bottling of the variety. The five-acre Serpentine Meadow Vineyard on the Langtry estate Guenoc Valley takes its name from the solidified magma, high in magnesium, fractured to form the devigorating soils found here. The moderately dense plantings in this vineyard block create small vines, clusters and berries that yield deep, dark purple wine with notable blackberry flavors, polished tannins and delicate balance.

The high elevation Tephra Ridge Vineyard is the winery’s premier Cabernet vineyard. Perched on a mountainside above Guenoc Valley, the 35-acre Tephra Ridge Vineyard has thin, gravelly loam volcanic soils that typify the finest Bordeaux variety sites. The winery specially selects the best lost of Cabernet from the vineyard for the Langtry Tephra Ridge Cabernet, which is aged 18 months in French and American oak barrels. The wine is rich and intense and yields blackberry, cherry and currant flavors.

The Langtry 2007 Genevieve Chardonnay, also scheduled for release this fall, was produced from the ten-acre  Genevieve Vineyard on the Guenoc Valley floor, where very cool nights generate mature fruit with excellent acidity. The wine was partially fermented in French oak barrels, and portion underwent malolactic fermentation for additional complexity and richness. The wine has abundant floral, honeysuckle, and pineapple characteristics.

Langtry Estate has long has long been known for making one of California’s finest Port wines, albeit in very limited quantities. The tradition continues with the Langtry 2005 Petite Sirah Port, which comes from the Serpentine Meadow Vineyard, the estate’s finest source of Petite Sirah. This rich, full blooded dessert wine is aged 12 months in French oak barrels and has 11.5% residual sugar, created with the addition of premium grape spirits to stop fermentation.

The new Langtry label depicts a striking image of a 300-year-old bent and twisted Blue oak tree that symbolizes the winery’s commitment and determination to make wines of great distinction and character. The new Langtry line captures the winery’s commitment to its estate vineyards, which total 449 acres. The Langtry wines are made in very limited quantities, most fewer than 1,000 cases, and represent the finest vineyards lost and winemaking achievement the winery has to offer.

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