It is my pleasure to introduce the wines by Bruce Prothro and his family. Bruce and his wife, Ronda became interested in wine at the start of their relationship. They had an incredible first date wine tasting in Napa and one year later they were married. In 1991, Bruce and Ronda began making their own wine by purchasing Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay grapes from a vineyard in the Russian River Valley that supplied grapes to DeLoach Winery. With no formal training, they borrowed and rented equipment to crush, ferment, and press almost two tons of grapes, yielding nearly 120 gallons of barrel-aged wine. Even though they made a few mistakes that first year, the wine was a hit among their friends and family and became a staple at their parties and get togethers.
Over the next seven years they made wine out of their garage. Along the way they had help from several heavyweight figures in California wine including Burt Williams at Williams Selyem, Dexter and Val Ahlgren at Ahlgren Vineyards, Ken Burnap at Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards, Kent Rosenbloom and Jeff Cohn at Rosenbloom Cellars, and the crew at David Bruce Winery.
Their first vintage was 2014. Check out the outstanding 2022 Prothro ‘Limited Release Howell Mountain’ Cabernet Sauvignon (OB, 93) which is a gorgeous wine from a challenging vintage. Learn more about this great Napa winery at https://prothrofamilywines.com/ Here are the beautiful new wines by Prothro Family Wines.
2024 Prothro ‘Wildwood Vineyards’ Sauvignon Blanc- The 2024 Prothro ‘Wildwood Vineyards’ Sauvignon Blanc offers white flowers and green herbs on the nose with gooseberry tones. The palate is soft and refined with good minerality. Drink 2025-2030- 90
2023 Prothro ‘Rodgers Creek Vineyard’ Chardonnay- The 2023 ‘Rodgers Creek Vineyard’ Chardonnay is smooth on the mouth with good viscosity. Green apple and pastry crust flavors meld well with baking spices and shades of starfruit on the palate. Drink 2025-2031- 91
2022 Prothro ‘Napa Valley’ Cabernet Franc- The outstanding 2022 Prothro ‘Napa Valley’ Cabernet Franc offers rich dark fruits with chocolate, dried herbs and loamy soils. Considering the heat of the vintage, this is a delicious effort that is meant for early consumption. Drink 2025-2031- 91
2022 Prothro ‘Limited Release Howell Mountain’ Cabernet Sauvignon- The delicious 2022 Prothro ‘Limited Release Howell Mountain’ Cabernet Sauvignon offers good richness and depth on the mid-palate. Graphite and dark chocolate shavings mingle with kirsch and cassis notes. Soft and approachable now, enjoy over the next eight to ten years. Drink 2025-2033- 93
2022 Prothro ‘Limited Release Rutherford’ Cabernet Sauvignon- Another beautiful hot vintage release, the 2022 ‘Limited Release Rutherford’ has plenty of damp soil character on the palate, alongside creme de cassis, anise, tar, sweet pipe tobacco and blackberry compote. Medium to full-bodied, this is already showing really well. Drink 2025-2033- 93