"Michael Keenan continues to impress me with the quality of his wines
and readers need to take notice of what is going on at this beautiful winery on Spring Mountain. The 2006 Chardonnay, which is primarily from estate vineyards, is reminiscent of a top-notch Chablis. It exhibits aromas of crushed rocks, spring flowers, white currants, lemon zest, and a hint of citrus oil. Medium-bodied and crisp, with no oak in evidence, this is a beauty to drink over the next 3-4 years."

"The elegant 2005 Merlot reveals a sweet berry-scented nose with notions of roasted herbs, crushed rocks, and subtle wood as well as road tar. This medium-bodied, well-balanced, silky Merlot should be consumed over the next 5-8 years. An outstanding effort, the 2005 Merlot Reserve Mailbox Vineyard retains the elegant style, but ratchets up the level of concentration and complexity. A fragrant, red currant, sweet cherry, roasted herb, and mocha-infused nose is followed by a full-bodied wine with lovely elegance, finesse, sweet tannins, and long, layered fruit flavors that cascade over the palate with no hard edges. It should drink well for 10-12 years. Another stylish offering is the 2005 Mernet Reserve, a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot (350 cases). It exhibits a deep ruby/purple hue in addition to an attractive bouquet of white chocolate, licorice, and sweet blueberry and red cherry fruit, medium to full body, and well-integrated tannin, acidity, and wood. This Margaux-like red can be enjoyed over the next 10-15 years. Keenan has done a fabulous job with the
2005 Cabernet Franc, a varietal that excels on Spring Mountain. A beautiful nose
of menthol, black raspberries, blueberries, and flowers is followed by a fabulously intense, yet light on its feet, wine. Medium-bodied with excellent fruit and palate penetration, it never seems to tire or become overbearing. This is a gorgeously pure, lovingly textured effort to drink over the next 10-15 years."

"Primarily from estate vineyards, the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon exhibits notes of ripe raspberries, blueberries, and kirsch interwoven with spicy oak, subtle wood, and earthy undertones. With silky tannin and decent acidity, this medium-bodied, elegant Cabernet should drink nicely for 10-15 years. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve possesses more blueberry, raspberry, and floral notes, an elegant personality, full body, and outstanding depth, richness, and texture.
Enjoy it for 15+ years."
Robert M. Parker, Jr. The Wine Advocate

"Michael Keenan has been pushing the quality of these offerings to exciting levels over the last several vintages, and this Spring Mountain winery is poised to garner more and more accolades from consumers for their impeccably made wines. The non-malolactic 2005 Chardonnay was aged in both new wood and stainless steel. It offers fresh citrus, pear, and lanolin-like characteristics along with attractive minerality, crispness, and a lively personality. Consume it over the next 1-3 years."

"… despite (the 2004’s) recent bottling, they were showing incredibly well. As a general rule they display surprising definition in this flamboyant, opulent, fruit –flavored vintage. The 2004 Merlot (which includes 3% Cabernet Franc) is a dense, rich, concentrated effort boasting a dark ruby/purple color along with plenty of black cherry and currant fruit intermixed with espresso roast and earth notes. Its moderate tannin is sweet and well-integrated. Drink it over the next decade. Classic aromas of cedar, black currants, licorice, graphite, and spicy oak emerge from the full-bodied, powerful, opulent, opaque purple-colored 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. This concentrated, rich, impressively-endowed Cabernet is a steal for the price. Moreover, it should drink well for 15 or more years. A limited production cuvee, the 2004 Cabernet Franc, from the Spring Mountain estate vineyard, exhibits a lovely floral, blueberry, and raspberry-scented perfume, medium body, superb intensity, and a light, ethereal character. It is an uplifted, beautiful effort that shows what Cabernet Franc can achieve in the hands of a conscientious grower and superb winemaking. Drink it over the next decade. The 2004 Merlot Reserve Mailbox Vineyard is a more concentrated and backward wine than the regular bottling. Ultimately, it should merit several more points given its complex mocha, espresso roast, chocolate, black cherry, and berry-scented bouquet. Opulent, thick, juicy, and medium to full-bodied with supple tannins as well as superb length, it should drink well for 10-15 years. The profound 2004 Mernet Reserve is a 297-case blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. This stunning offering demonstrates just how far Keenan has come over the last several years with their Bordeaux proprietary blend. A dense ruby/purple color is accompanied by an extraordinary perfume of black fruits, blueberries, licorice, sweet leather, chocolate truffles, and espresso roast. Full-bodied, opulent, and dense, it is already approachable, but should evolve for 15-20 years. A beautiful wine, the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve boasts classic creme de cassis, cedar, tobacco leaf, spice box, and pain grille aromas and flavors. This impeccably made, full-bodied, super-concentrated Cabernet reveals good delineation and freshness as well as surprising definition and elegance for a wine of such power and intensity. If you haven’t discovered the wines of Robert Keenan, it’s time to jump on the bandwagon as quality appears to go from strength to strength."

WINE ADVOCATE SUMMARY CHART
Interesting Fact:
Robert Parker tastes and reviews wines before they are released.

"What a difference a vintage makes. I just participated in an unusual three-vintage blind tasting of Cabernet set up by the Napa Valley Vintners as part of their Premiere Napa Valley promotional event and auction.

The years were 2002, 2003 and 2004, from 12 representative wineries up and down the valley. To me it confirmed that 2003 is an excellent vintage with its own personality, while 2002 and 2004 are stylistically similar to each other, deeper, fatter and more massive than 2003, which has classic Napa Cabernet aromas, pretty fruit flavors and great balance. You pick which style you like, and buy them while they last.

Winemakers around Napa have been quietly griping since James Laube of Wine Spectator gave the 2003 mediocre marks last fall, and advised people generally not to buy the vintage, especially since the prices had not dropped from 2002. He maintained that 2003 counts as the third off vintage in the six years from 1998 to 2003, making it a bad run in general.

I disagree, and encourage Cabernet lovers and the wine trade, especially those who've been complaining about the high alcohol levels and excess fat in California wines, to reconsider 2003. Out of 36 wines in the tasting, the three vintages finished very close together in my scores, with 2002 having a slight lead over the other two.

On my vintage chart, five out of seven vintages from 1998-2004 including 2003, are exceptional. 2000 was lighter, rather mute, with markedly less personality than 2003. 1998 was, yes, a noticeably weak year for Napa Valley, showing herbaceous flavors and a thinness in many wines.

Here's a great case where restaurants and retailers as well as consumers can show a little independence from the critics that they're often complaining about and decide for themselves. I haven't tasted as many 2003s as Laube, my old colleague and friend, but in many of the 100 or so that I have tried, there's a fascinating, distinct, unmistakable Cabernet bouquet of bright fruit, with hints of cedar and cinnamon, pretty and sometimes exotic fruit flavors with an unusual brightness and clarity, and a more elegant texture and lively balance than many good years.

If anything, these 2003s are like Bordeaux in balance and complexity, and should age very well for at least 10 years. It's not always the big fat years that age well, as we're seeing now with lots of 1994s that are past their primes.

The top four wines from 2003, with my 100-point-scale scores, were as follows. The Vintners didn't provide prices instantly, so I will attach those later in the Reviews searchable database. These vary from about $50 to $200 per bottle, with Shafer's Hillside Select being probably the most expensive in this group.

94  Grgich Hills Napa Valley 2003
93  Seps Estate Napa Valley Storybook Mountain Vineyard 2003
93  Shafer Stags Leap District Hillside Select 2003
93  Tres Sabores Rutherford Perspective 2003

2004 had a few more spikes in high scores, due to its great concentration and richness. My favorites here were:

94  Shafer Stags Leap District Hillside Select 2004
94  Tres Sabores Rutherford Perspective 2004
93  Keenan Spring Mountain Reserve 2004
93  Grgich Hills Napa Valley 2004

And for 2002, my favorites were:

95  Keenan Spring Mountain District 2002
95  Seps Estate Napa Valley Storybook Mountain Vineyard 2002
95  Shafer Stags Leap District Hillside Select 2002
93  Grgich Hills Napa Valley 2002
93  Robert Mondavi Oakville 2002”

This 50-acre Spring Mountain estate, which has been hitting on all cylinders over recent vintages, is emerging as one of the region’s finest producers, thanks in part to winemaking guru Nils Venge, who is their consultant. Readers looking for a Chablisean-styled California Chardonnay should check out Keenan’s 2004 Chardonnay Spring Mountain, which saw about 20% new oak and the rest neutral wood as well as stainless steel. Aromas of pears, citrus oils, and minerals jump from the glass of this elegant, flowery offering. With abundant fruit and crisp vivaciousness, it should be enjoyed over the next 1-3 years.

Robert Keenan’s 2003 vintage is a success, especially for the limited production cuvees. The dark ruby-colored, elegant 2003 Merlot is primarily from the estate vineyards, and includes 5% Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Offering hints of mocha intermixed with coffee bean, black cherry, earth, and herb characteristics along with a clipped finish, it should be consumed over the next 5-6 years. Richer, more textured and nuanced is the spicy, earthy, smoky, black currant-scented and flavored 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon (includes a small amount of Merlot). This medium-bodied Cabernet will make an ideal candidate for consumption over the next 7-8 years. Cabernet Franc does extremely well under the Keenan/Venge partnership, and the 2003 Cabernet Franc is a beautifully ripe, floral, earthy wine with a dense ruby/purple color, and copious amounts of intense flavors and richness. It can be drunk now and over the next 7-8 years. Sadly, there are only 280 cases of this 100% Cabernet Franc. The brilliant 2003 Merlot Reserve Mailbox Vineyard (100% estate Merlot) exhibits superb fruit, purity, texture, and depth as well as loads of sweet melted licorice interwoven with notions of espresso roast, cherry liqueur, white chocolate, and subtle wood. Medium to full-bodied, pure, and elegant, it will age effortlessly for 10-15 years. A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot, the fruity 2003 Mernet Reserve offers hints of white flowers, blueberries, licorice, cassis, espresso, and truffles. Displaying beautiful fruit on the attack, medium to full body, deep penetration as well as surprising finesse and balance, this is a superb example of high elevation Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Drink it over the next 12-15 plus years. Notes of graphite, blackberries, blueberries, and cassis emerge from the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve along with underlying sweet earthiness and licorice. It possesses exceptional elegance, a flowery, fragrant bouquet, and gorgeously long, concentrated, intense flavors. Drink this beauty over the next 15 years. The competent 2003 Zinfandel offers plenty of briery, berry fruit along with hints of earth and flowers in a medium-bodied, stylish format. Drink it over the next 3-4 years.

The 2004 Merlot exhibits abundant chocolate-like characteristics in its elegant personality. Riper and sweeter than the 2003, it should provide pleasure during its first 7-8 years of life. The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon appears to be outstanding. Dense and opulent with an inky/purple color as well as intense creme de cassis fruit intermixed with smoke and graphite notes, it should drink well young, and evolve for 12-15 years.

Wine & Spirits 19th annual restaurant poll
ranks Keenan’s Napa Valley Merlot as one of the
top 10 most popular Merlot’s in American Restaurants.

Over the last twelve months, Wine & Spirits tasted 535 American cabernets. These 9 cabernet sauvignons received the strongest praise from our critics.

2002 Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
Mountain-grown tannins give this a superrich feel, the flavor black and exotic with a deep, primary feel. For lamb or game sausages. (280 cases) 94 Points
 
Wine & Spirits Magazine "Top 100 wineries of the year".

Driving into the Mayacamas Mountain between Napa and Sonoma is kind of like throwing the hand brake in the fast lane. All the whirring light and urban noise of the bay's cities abruptly halt and disappear. It's a sudden removal that has attracted settlers to these mountains since the 19th century, and occasionally you can glimpse remains of old vineyards and some stone buildings like those that Robert Keenan found when he started his winery on Spring Mountain in 1974.

By the mid-1980ss, Keenan was producing intense mountain-grown cabernet and merlot when the winery hit a snag with its lead distributor. Keenan's difficult patch continued through phylloxera, which forced the winery to replant its vineyards between 1995 and 1998, making wine from contracted grapes in the meantime.

Keenan's son Michael came to the winery in 1998 determined to change this course. With the help of cellarmaster Randy Kewell, manager Matt Gardner and consulting winemaker Nils Venge, the younger Keenan has been largely successful: The replanted estate vineyards came online with the 2001 vintage, and as the vines age, the wines continue to improve. His '02 Napa Valley Cabernet, for instance, is dense and savory, its austere tannins balanced with more generous fruit from valley-floor vines. The '04 Spring Mountain Chardonnay shows the austerity of mountain-grown fruit, here balanced with rich, spicy baked apple flavor.

The wine that best capture Spring Mountain's terroir might be Keenan's '02 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, from a selection of estate vines planted at 1,700 feet. The immediate hit of black-peppercorn spice alone reflects the power of its mountain-grown fruit; its deep, juicy core of fruit furthers that impression, black as vocanic soils the vines grow in. It's a wine that makes it clear that Keenan is back on track.
- W.M.W.
 

Robert Parker gave Keenan a great review in the latest issue of The Wine Advocate. Take some time to read this complimentary review of Keenan's current and future releases.

“With 50 acres under vine on Spring Mountain, this producer has fashioned its strongest lineup to date. The Keenan Family, backed by consulting winemaker Nils Venge, has hit home runs in 2001 and 2002. Moreover, some of the unblended barrel samples of 2003 look promising as well. As for the stuff in bottle, for starters there is a very Chablis-like 2003 Chardonnay, a wine that is primarily from the estate and not put through malolactic, with about 20% of it aged in stainless steel and the other 80% barrel-fermented and aged in neutral wood. A wine with good lemon oil notes intermixed with a hint of pear, white peach, and orange rind, this nicely textured, crisp, minerally Chardonnay has good acidity and a very nicely textured, zesty mouthfeel. Drink it over the next 1-2 years.
 
The red wines have soared in quality. For starters, the 2001 Merlot 25th Anniversary is a deep ruby/purple-colored effort with a big, sweet, chocolatey nose intermixed with black cherry, curranty fruits, a succulent mouthfeel, and admirable fruit purity in the finish. It is a wine meant to be drunk during its first 7-8 years of life. The 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon 25th Anniversary has a dense purple color and a sweet nose of crème de cassis intermixed with licorice, graphite, and subtle, smoky oak.Dense, medium to full-bodied, with sweet tannins, and a long, heady finish, this is an impressive as well as realistically priced Napa Cabernet. Drink it over the next 10-15 years. The 2002’s look to be even better as they are more flamboyant and display an even stronger inner core of fruit and concentration. The 2002 Merlot exhibits a dark ruby/purple color along with a big, sweet nose of mocha-infused black cherries and currants intermixed with a hint of espresso roast. Deep, rich, chewy, and medium to full-bodied with outstanding balance, this is a beauty to drink over the next 10-12 years. Another knock-out wine is the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon, which tastes like pure crème de cassis. Beautiful purity of fruit, a deep ruby/purple color, a restrained use of oak, and a stunning finish with moderately high tannin make for an impressive Cabernet Sauvignon that should hit its prime in 2-3 years and last for 12-15. Sadly, there are only 200 cases of the gorgeous 2002 Cabernet Franc. The wine offers a tremendous perfume of red and black currants intermixed with notions of blueberries, menthol, and minerals. Dense ruby/purple, medium-bodied, with beautiful elegance, a layered mouthfeel, and a singular personality, this is a dazzling Cabernet Franc, but there is so little of it. It should drink well for 10-12 years.
 
There were roughly 275-300 cases of the Reserve cuvees, so very little of this wine makes it into the public domain. The deep ruby/purple-hued 2002 Merlot Reserve offers up aromas of melted licorice, smoky espresso, black currants, cherries, and licorice. This dense, succulent wine boasts terrific concentration as well as purity, and a long, full-bodied, rich finish. Anticipated maturity: now-2015. The 2002 Mernet Reserve, a proprietary blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot, is the finest wine Keenan has ever made! The wine has considerable complexity and all the elegance and nuances of a grand cru Bordeaux allied with the ripe, concentrated, saturated fruit that Napa and particularly Spring Mountain provides. Gorgeous aromas of crème de cassis, licorice, espresso, and acacia flowers are followed by a profoundly rich wine boasting medium to full body, elegant, sweet tannins, and enough acidity to provide definition and vibrancy. The finish goes on for a good 40-45 seconds. This beauty is a persuasive example of what Keenan has been able to accomplish over the last few years. Drink it over the next 15+ years.  Lastly, The backward 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve exhibits a saturated purple color, and a big, sweet nose of blackberries, black currants, earth, and smoky oak. Impressively endowed, well structured, with high but well-integrated tannin, decent acidity, and a long finish, it requires 2-3 years of bottle-age. It should evolve for 15-20 years. This beautiful winery, located in Spring Mountain in the Mayacamas Range, seems to be making the best wine of its 25-year history, and much of the credit must go to the tireless efforts of Michael Keenan who has done so much to resurrect the fortunes of this winery.”