Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages
Since the inaugural vintage of our Decoy Napa Valley Red Wine more than a quarter century ago, Decoy has taken an important place in the Duckhorn Portfolio of wines. With a reputation for delivering great quality at a remarkable price, Decoy has established a loyal following for its distinctive style, which emphasizes ready-upon-release wines that are capable of expressing their full charm and complexity in their youth. Building on this foundation, Decoy has evolved from being a single wine that supported the Duckhorn Vineyards brand to being a renowned winery in its own right.
The Decoy lineup now includes a Sonoma County appellation-designated Red Blend, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as a California Rosé, Pinot Noir and Sparkling Wine, all of which highlight Decoy’s commitment to producing attractively priced wines from exceptional vineyard sources.
Fruit for the Decoy program comes from a mix of Estate vineyards and top grower vineyards. From the wealth of viticultural and winemaking talent we can draw from, to our world-class cooperage program and more, Decoy benefits greatly from the remarkable resources of the Duckhorn Portfolio.
Covering the most vine acreage in the state compared to any other red wine variety, Cabernet Sauvignon produces as much wine in California as Merlot and Pinot Noir combined. The state’s diverse terrain and microclimates, as well as the freedom of its winemakers, allow for an incredible range of wine styles from this single grape.
California’s most famous region—and especially for Cabernet Sauvignon—is the acclaimed Napa Valley. While Cabernet is successful throughout the world, rarely has it achieved such merit as it does from the Napa Valley. At this point the two are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other.
Napa’s closest neighbor, Sonoma County, does an impressive job keeping up with Napa’s fame and glory. Alexander Valley, Sonoma Mountain, Moon Mountain and Knights Valley contribute to the lot of some of California’s top-rated Cabernet Sauvignon.
Lake County in California’s North Coast has become a focus for some of Napa’s more respected growers. From the Central Coast come iconic examples of classic California Cabernet; Lodi and the Sierra Foothills are great budget-friendly sources of amicable Cabernets.