Nose
Dark with toasted notes leading to aromas of cherry liqueur and cassis. Rich and layered with black plum. The nose reveals its aromatic intensity and complexity with hints of musk, lavender, vanilla, and dried herb.
Palate
The luscious palate is full and rich while remaining centered. Layers of dark chocolate, cassis, boysenberry, and toffee are simply delicious. Well-built, integrated structure. Finishes long and velvety, with lingering flavors of blueberry, dark cocoa, and vanilla.
Growing Conditions
2014 was another year of low rainfall and warm temperatures in Napa Valley, which once again resulted in an early harvest with excellent flavor intensity and beautiful ripeness in the fruit. The winter started off very dry with no rain from December through February. In late March and early April, we received a good dose of rain that started the vines growing with ample water in the root zone. Throughout most of the growing season, conditions were textbook normal for fruit set and ripening, which gave us an abundance of high-quality grapes. The Cabernet Sauvignon off of our Rosenquist Ranch on Mt. Veeder began to make its way to the winery on September 12. The last of the fruit off of Rosenquist was harvested on September 24.
The Rosenquist vineyard is one of our three estate Mount Veeder ranches. The elevation, a lofty 1,500 to 1,600 feet above sea level, creates unique and rugged growing conditions, which encourage vines to struggle to produce a low yield of high-quality fruit. The vineyard is beautiful, with steeply terraced vineyard rows wrapping around the mountainside. Full, open exposure to the mid-day sun gives optimum fruit development and ripening. Rosenquist fruit displays the full majesty of Mount Veeder—rich and supple, boldly flavorful, and brambly. So singular is the character of grapes from Rosenquist that we felt compelled to make a Cabernet Sauvignon bottling exclusively from this ranch.
Winemaking
Pre-fermentation cold soak of four
days to enhance color and body. Fermentation and
maceration averaging 24 days to build structure and
integrate mouthfeel.
Aging
20 months in small oak barrels.
100% new French oak.
Coopers: Saury and Boutes
