PRE-SALE: ETA MID TO LATE OCTOBER 
 
Blend: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3 % Petit Verdot, 1% Merlot, and 1% Cabernet Franc
 
99 Points Decanter
The first 2022 Napa Cabernet I tasted that avoids the warm, juicy ripeness often associated with the vintage. Instead, it stays true to its character, showcasing beautifully pure black cherry and blue fruit aromatics, with a cooling menthol note and coiled energy. Framed by crisp, crunchy tannins and gorgeous, Lacey acidity, leading to an impressively long finish of violets and fragrant bay laurel. Precise and focused. The blend contains 4% each of Petite Verdot and Merlot.
 
Winemaker Notes
Our goal is to bring back the Napa Cab of yore, when it was vibrant and juicy, elegant and boisterous at the same time, red fruited with accents of herbs and dark fruits, food-compatible, moderate in alcohol, and crushable along with being complex and age-worthy. The nose shows abundant dark and red fruits, lots of cherry along with blackberry, cranberry, mulberry, and framed with hints of mineral/herbal characters, such as graphite, cedar, and pencil shavings. The palate is vibrant and fresh, with lots of age-worthy tannin and beautiful acidity. Though ready to drink now, this is also one for the cellar, and decanting is highly recommended.
 
RECOMMENDED PAIRINGS
Grilled steak
Grilled or roasted mushrooms
Rich, meaty dishes
 
STORY
In the tradition of old-school Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, ours is a blended wine that represents the entire Napa Valley and includes a small amount of other Bordeaux varieties to complete the wine. For complexity and balance our Cab is composed of fruit from our estate-farmed vineyards throughout the Napa Valley. Rutherford gives us that classic Napa character (summer oak leaf dust and red fruits), Calistoga gives us the dark fruits, Coombsville brings structure and minerality, Mt. Veeder adds in fresh herbs and tannin structure, and Oak Knoll provides softness. The Merlot and Petit Verdot plump up the mid-palate for some nice fleshy yumminess.
2022 was a textbook year for us. Fall and winter rains had eased the multi-year drought, but the spring was still warm and dry, so 2022 gave us another early budbreak and conditions for small berries. Then a mild summer delivered smooth sailing all the way until harvest (we dodged the epic September 2022 heat spell; all of our fruit was already in tank or barrel). Our 2022 wines reflect the “Goldilocks” vintage, not too hot, and not too cool, just right for balanced wine that tastes of the place rather than any certain vintage conditions.
 
FARMING & WINEMAKING
The Estate-Farmed Vineyards that Comprise the Blend (all are CCOF Certified Organic):
The Dead Fred Vineyard in Coombsville sits on rocky volcanic soil. Its south-western exposure causes it to pick up heat during the day, and the proximity to the mouth of the Napa Valley keeps the nights cool.
The York Vineyard is in the heart of Rutherford, on the classic gravelly alluvium known to create the famous “Rutherford Dust” character.
The Helen’s Gate Vineyard is the home of Arthur Berliner and Marian Lever. It sits on an east-facing hill along Whitehall Lane in the Rutherford District of Napa Valley.
The Circa Vineyard is on gravelly loam down the street from York in Rutherford. Cool breezes and dry rocky soil combine to create refined structure and ripe fruits.
The Bengier Vineyard (formerly Vare) is also on Dry Creek, in the Oak Knoll District, but on gravelly soils in the mouth of the canyon. The cool air drainage down the canyon results in light aromatic wine.
The Gray Vineyard is on rocky alluvium down the road from our winery, in the Oak Knoll District. Cool breezes and dry rocky soil combine to create structure and ripe fruits.
The Stardust Vineyard is on young rocky volcanic soil in Franz Valley west of Calistoga. The vineyard is flanked by the cooling influence of Knight’s Valley (from the Russian River Valley) and the heat of Calistoga. The fruit is super intense and dense, adding gravitas to the Napa Cab blend.
The Papa’s Perch Vineyard is up on the top of Mt. Veeder on marine shale and sits in a pocket of conifers and bay trees. The fruit is rustic, wild, and intense, structured and explosive with aromas of muddled cane berries and minty herbs.
The fruit was fermented in small tanks and either punched down or pumped over twice per day, depending on flavor; we don’t strive for a high rate of extraction, instead choosing to preserve the freshness and high-toned aromatics. Fermentation temperatures are cool, so the fermentations were long and slow, mostly lasting around two weeks. The wine was pressed at dryness, blended immediately after malolactic fermentation, and aged for 20 months in a combination of mostly used and a few new barrels (<20% new French oak, mostly Taransaud and Bossuet).
 
TECHNICAL DETAILS
The blend is 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot.
Alcohol is 13.0%,TA is 6.33g/l, pH is 3.69. 2742 cases produced.
Estate-grown, CCOF Certified Organic, Native yeast.