Vineyards
Our Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of grapes sourced from top vineyards throughout the valley’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon appellations.  Securing fruit from multiple, diverse microclimates allows us to craft a rich, yet elegant Cabernet Sauvignon marrying the lush black fruit and sturdy tannins typical of the valley’s warmer northern districts with the bright fruit and acidity characteristic of its cooler southern climes.  In 2010, we included 5% Cabernet Franc, 4% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot and 1% Malbec in the blend to create a classic Bordeaux-style cépage showcasing the rich, ripe fruit flavors for which Napa Valley is renowned.

Vintage 2010
2010 was a notably cool growing season in California.  The year began with substantial rainfall, which pushed back bud break, flowering and grape set by several weeks.  After an unusually cool summer, heat spikes in late August kick-started full ripening.  Cooler temperatures returned in early September, allowing our red varieties to hang on the vine an extra few weeks developing ripe, concentrated flavors.

Winemaking
Our Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of dozens of different lots of grapes, each separately harvested, crushed, fermented and barrel-aged.  Each lot is also cold-soaked for two days prior to fermentation to enhance the extraction of color and flavor.  Tank size, yeast strain, fermentation temperature and barrel type are tailored to the fruit character of each lot.  Some of the wines undergo an extended maceration (keeping the fully fermented wine on its skins for several weeks to extract more flavor and soften tannins) while others are pressed off their skins immediately.  Each lot spends six months aging in French oak barrels (35% new in 2010).  After the lots are blended, the new wine ages another 12 months in barrel prior to bottling.  

Tasting Notes
Our 2010 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon offers wonderfully fragrant, complex aromas of ripe blackberry and boysenberry fruit augmented by complementary scents of loam, spice-box, dark chocolate and toasty oak.  Beautifully balanced and richly textured on the palate, its concentrated black cherry, wild berry, cassis and mocha flavors are supported by supple tannins and extend into a long, chocolate-y finish.  The product of a cool growing season, this rich, elegant Cabernet Sauvignon is delicious now, but will develop greater nuance with another 5-7 years of cellaring.

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