The saddest vineyard in Napa.

There might possibly be a worse tended to vineyard in the Napa Valley than this one, but I doubt it.  Developed in two phases, beginning in the summer of 2015, this vineyard began life as a couple of horse paddocks and continued that way for more than 30 years.  (Horses destroy soil texture through compaction.)  The soil was ripped to a depth of 5 feet with a bulldozer and then planted to Petit Verdot (clone 1058) on 1103 Paulsen rootstock.  And then, nothing; no love, no training, no water.  No water!  To say these vines are a tad physiologically delayed is a bit of an understatement.  So sad.
The property recently changed ownership and the new owners aren't quite sure what they want to do with their new vineyard.  Frankly, this poor vineyard may be beyond resuscitation, it's in such a bad condition.  And I have real doubts that Petit Verdot could ever ripen in chilly Coombsville.  We'll see.

What wine goes with...No. 3.

...duck? I love duck. If I am eating out at a restaurant and duck is on the menu you can be sure that that is what I am going to order. I adore the stuff, but I would never cook it for myself.
Last week I went to a dinner at which duck was being served as the main course - yum! The Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) was being paired with two wines: Cabernet sauvignon and Petit verdot - double yum! The Cabernets on offer were a little too hardy for the beautifully rare-cooked bird, but the PVs proved to be a much better pairing. Very rarely bottled as a stand alone variety there were, surprisingly, about half a dozen California PVs on offer. Most notable amongst them was a tasty offering from Smith Wooton which paired extremely well with the fabulous fowl.
I thoroughly enjoyed my duck dinner, and about half of Vinomaker's also.