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Tasting Notes
This exquisite vintage boasts a complex blend of dark berry fruit, with blackberry, black cherry, and dark plum taking center stage. Warm baking spices as nutmeg, clove, root spice, and caramel add depth to the flavor profile, while wild chaparral sage, lavender, and thyme provide a lifted savory rusticity. The earthy terroir character is enhanced by well-integrated oak notes. With its full structure and velvety-rich, mouth-filling tannins, this wine offers incredible depth and balance. The generous and nuanced concentration unfolds into layers of fresh and mouthwatering acidity. It’s drinkable now and will age gracefully for years to come - an embodiment of classic Oakville Cabernet character.Technical Information
| Varietal | Cabernet Sauvignon |
|---|---|
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Volume | 750mL |
| Appellation | Napa Valley |
| Blend | 99% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Petite Sirah |
| Oak Treatment | Aged 19 months in 100% French Oak (52% new) |
| Alcohol % | 14.5% |
Scores & Accolades
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94“Black cherries, blue plums and violets followed by Christmas spices, cocoa powder and dark chocolate with underlying graphite and crushed rock notes. Full-bodied, soft acidity with firm yet juicy tannins. Structured with a lovely crunchiness to it. Aged for 18 months in 35% new French oak. Drink or hold.”, James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com
Winemaking
This small bottling is a barrel-selection of the most expressive lots from the Oakville AVA. The blend fermented separately in French oak barrels 19 months (52 % new) and blended just prior to bottling. Custom-toasted, very low impact barrels of new French oak were hand-selected, which supported the wine during maturation but did not impart excessive flavors. Keeping lots separate throughout fermentation and aging allow us to monitor and evaluate each lot individually to maximum potential and complexity.Vintage
The 2020 season will be remembered for factors beyond the typical harvest season. It was a warm, dry winter and the rain and cooler weather didn’t arrive until the end of March. While the mild spring season was a great early start, summer brought very cool mornings and very warm days, but then harvest was interrupted by wildfires across California, which came as grapes started to be picked, and we were very fortunate that none of our vineyards were in the areas of the active fires. The white wine harvest started in mid to late August while the red wine harvest was smaller yielding and proved to be one of the most challenging in history, but our winemakers remained optimistic and very complimentary of the high quality achieved from this unprecedented vintage.Vineyard
Fruit is from Gamble Ranch, tucked off Highway 29 and Silverado Trail, in the heart of Napa’s Oakville District. Soils are rocky and concentrated with varied soils with alluvium derived from volcanic, metamorphic, or sedimentary rock, and some soils from volcanic parent material weathering in place. The ranch is primarily on the flat valley floor, but views are spectacular. It’s an historical valley location within and geographically in close proximity to our Stags’ Leap estate.