Paloma Vineyards is located five miles above the town of St. Helena on Spring Mountain, in fact is sits almost at the precipice of the mountain. With the vineyard originally purchased in 1983 and with only a few decrepit Zinfandel vines, the owners Barbara & Jim Richards had quite a bit of work to do. The Richards family was living in the oil mecca of Texas, Midland and were looking for a second home. With an eye toward both the past as well as the future, the family currently crafts a Merlot blend which is what has made the vineyard famous, even including a few clusters from one of those original Zinfandel trees, for luck of course.
The vineyards namesake wine is a Merlot which is blended with a few special Cabernet Sauvignon vines (let alone the.01% of Zinfandel which they add) to the tune of around fifteen percent on average. To speak to the quality of the wine, Robert Parker has scored vintages between 91 and 93 points over the past few years. Wine Spectator Magazine has scored their wines in a similar fashion. With total production of the winery sitting at around 3,000 cases, it is a small production winery which offers wine drinkers the amazing combination of outstanding wine, small production as well as a family owned operation.
Lastly, it is important to note that very few wineries in Napa are making quality Merlot any more. Paloma is a true exception here, making only a Merlot which means that both the production quality and the winery itself will be consistent over time.
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