2005   El Camino Real                     Page-Nord Vineyards  - Napa Valley            Syrah - Cabernet blend                       

217 case production - 16.9% alc.

88 % Syrah, 12 % Cabernet Sauvignon

This Syrah blend is a bold fat luscious red wine.  From its rich and dark tones come flavors of blackberry and currants.  The fruit of El Camino Real was picked at its ripest moment from the Page Nord vineyards near Yountville in Napa Valley.   

$40 per bottle

The label of this wine was inspired by the historical "El Camino Real" trail that spanned California from the south to the north of what is now San Francisco.  Before California was settled, Friar Junipero Sera began a quest in 1784 for Spain to establish missions along a trail they named "El Camino Real".  During the 75 years in operation, 21 missions were built serving the indigenous Indians and the Spanish military.  Some of the many cultural and economic exchanges shared among the Spaniards and the Indians, were wine and raisens produced from the vineyards planted at these missions.  Mission San Gabriel, near what is now Los Angeles, was the largest vineyard planting spanning 170 acres.  In 1830, Alfred Robinson recorded that between 400 adn 600 barrels of wine were produced annually at Mission San Gabriel; a relatively large production in those days.  It is this mission expansion that established some of the first wine-grape plantings in California!