Nestled just three miles southeast of the prestigious Napa Valley, Solano County is one of northern California's best kept secrets. Boasting rich soils, a temperate climate, and warm breezes, this county has been producing wines with character and depth for over 50 years.
The deep-hued, rich-bodied fruit produced from these rolling hillsides of cascading vines are made into engaging wines, many of which are snagging top prizes at regional competitions and high ratings from esteemed wine publications. Solano County is also home to the beautiful Green Valley appellation and the European, Old World inspired winery GV Cellars. A relative newcomer to the northern California wine world, GV Cellars first vintage release was in 2002, and has since been attracting quite the loyal enthusiasts.
With a wine profile run by veteran winemaker Richard Mansfield it's no wonder the wines are being so widely admired and highly sought after. Mansfield is proud of the reputation GV Cellars has acquired, and finds his European inspiration from his Master Winemaker apprenticeship and years of study in Geisenhem, Germany to be of invaluable experience in crafting his style of wines from here. He has now become a leading consultant and winemaker in northern California and is truly the talent behind GV Cellars' fast growing recognition and serious line-up of dynamic, Old World wines.
Silhouette is an estate bottled blend of 66% Sangiovese, 27% Merlot and 7% Syrah. This is a blend similar to what you could find in wines from Tuscany, even in Chianti. Sangiovese is the backbone ingredient. It supplies the power and supple flavors while Merlot rounds them out and Syrah, even in such a small quantity, gives that kick that lets you know you're not drinking your grandmother's wine.
Sangiovese is probably indigenous to Tuscany and migrated west from there to North and South America. It's earliest recorded discovery was in the early 18th Century in Italy, but was probably around for a good 200 years before that. Since the early Italian grape growers didn't know how to tame the sharp acidity, they added sweeter, white grapes to the blend. For the longest time, white grapes were required in the blend if it were to be called Chianti. As they learned better farming techniques, smaller quantities of white were allowed until they were legally eliminated in 1985.
April 2009 Limited Series Newsletter (.pdf)
