Nose
Bright red fruit, cherry cola and pomegranate lead the plush, fruit-forward aromatics of this wine.
Palate
In the mouth it is surprisingly multilayered and laced with intriguing earthiness and spice flavors. The wine finishes with velvety, soft tannins infusing it with a focused elegance in no small part attributable to the extra year spent in barrel.
Growing Conditions
The 2015 growing season was marked by generally warm weather, limited rainfall, and an early harvest. Reminiscent of Napa’s famous 2010 vintage, the resulting harvest was much smaller than average, yielding very concentrated wines with lots of personality. The Founders’ Reserve was sourced from two of the oldest Cabernet blocks on the estate, Blocks 3 and 10. Planted in 1993, Block 3 is situated on a clay-rich plateau known for producing grapes with deep and layered power. Block 10, planted five years later, occupies a gentle south-facing slope that often surprises us with its aromatic fruit and elegant tannins.
Winemaking
The components for this highly-limited wine were sourced from vineyard blocks that are home to the oldest Cabernet vines at Seavey Vineyard, now in their third decade. Because of sharply reduced yields (half of usual amounts), it wasn’t clear it would even be possible to make a 2015 Founders’ Reserve. But winemaker Jim Duane worked painstakingly with just a few special lots, none of which even filled a barrel, to achieve a wine loaded with personality and concentrated layers.
Aging
The wine was barrel-aged for 32 months, the first vintage of Seavey’s Founders’ Reserve to receive an extra year of barrel aging.
100% French Oak (100% new)
