JML – LKG and just another Secret!

It’s new. Another Cabernet Sauvignon from Secret Door but this one is different. Read on.

JML (Jung Min Lee – our owner) is the inspiration for all the SECRET DOOR wines. In this case, we wanted to create a 2nd label for SECRET DOOR. It needed to be a statement about our founder but also signal that this wine is different from the two single vineyard primary Cabernet Sauvignon wines we make for SECRET DOOR.

How are they similar? This is basically the exact same winemaking and attention to detail we give our flagship wines. We start in the vineyard with exacting standards for the grapes from our Napa Valley sources and then run the regular program as if it was going to be a single vineyard wine for all the grapes. We want to get the very best out of this wine. We think that the JML makes a great “little sister” wine to the “Empress Level” wines from Sage Ridge Vineyard and Hirondelle Vineyard.

How are the wines different? Although they begin in the same mode, we begin to see differences in the barrels of each wine fairly early on in their development. In 2018, we had a vineyard source that – although great – we didn’t think would be required for the long-run and that became the core of JML 2018. In addition, we selected barrels from the other two vineyard sources to create a blend that we felt would show very well as a younger wine. Think of it as a serious wine but also one that we’d like to see mature more rapidly to be drinkable now. We were specifically thinking about using it for restaurants – today (mid COVID-19 pandemic) we are thinking about how great this would be to drink over the next 3-5 years at home, too!

100% Cabernet Sauvignon. All new barrels in 2018 – it’s a serious wine, and just glorious richness without being sweet or heavy. Drinking window is already open for the JML.

Our JML with the JML bottle. At $65/bottle this is truly a steal.