Grapes: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: Dollarhide Estate Vineyard, Napa Valley.

Winemaker’s Notes: This Cabernet Sauvignon presents with deep, dark red sand purples. Aromas are opulent with ripe blackberry, cassis, black plum, espresso as well as a subtle thread of anise. A rich, dense profile follows with flavors of dark, ripe, blackberry, black plum and dark chocolate, with a fine French oak influence. This is a deep, structured wine with excellent fine-grained tannins.

Vintage: 2016 saw a near-perfect growing season. A warm spring jump started bud break, and an ideal June and July followed with moderate daytime temperatures and cool nights. August was cooler allowing for an even and steady growing season which encouraged the fruit to ripen uniformly under slow, constant conditions. Harvest started on August 16th, ten days later than last year and wrapped up right before Napa saw a significant rainfall on October 14th. Yields are as expected, and the quality of the fruit is exceptional. The fruit was hand-harvested in the cool morning hours and brought to the winery in half-ton bins. At the winery, the clusters were sorted using a double sorting system. First, the clusters were sorted by hand. The fruit then ran through a small destemmer that removed stems from the grapes prior to the individual berries being sorted to ensure that the ideal grapes were chosen. These berries were delivered to a fermenter where there was a period of resting on skins. Warm fermentation temperatures were encouraged along with gentle cap maceration to achieve the desired color and structure for the wine before an extended maceration time on skins prior to final pressing. The wine was transferred directly to barrel for 18 months of maturation. Twenty-four percent of the sorted berries used in this blend were fermented in French Oak barrels to add layers of complexity to the wine. After fermentation, the wine remained in those same barrels for aging.

Analysis: Alcohol 14.5%, pH 3.88, acidity 6.5 g/L.