Tasting Notes:
The complex aromatics of this wine are expressive and brooding, with saturated brambly fruit aromas, seasoned with savory herbs of sage and bay leaf, and traces of mint and forest floor. There is an earthy clay component with notes of hoisin, baking spices and black tea. In the mouth, the wine comes alive with great depth and ample tannins coating the palate, finishing with a lingering minerality of wet stone.
Notes from winemaker Nigel Kinsman,
“This complex wine has a confident and alluring presence with its aromatic intensity, tension and grip complementing the full flavors of blue and black fruits, exotic spices and fine tannins.”
Winegrowing Information:
"2017 in Napa Valley began with generous rains fed by ‘atmospheric rivers’ that broke the long-running drought and brought rainfall totals to 150% of average in most locations. The saturating rains created challenges for farmers trying to get into the vineyards to finish pruning, and budbreak was later than normal, but by May, warmer and drier weather allowed a good fruit set of small grape clusters. Summer months were characterized by heat waves and very low humidity. Following veraison in early August, the hot and dry weather continued into late August/early September. Our red grape harvest began on September 14th and finished on October 6th. All the grapes were hand-har- vested in the cool morning hours and were brought to the Wheeler Farms winery for crushing. The wine was aged in new and used French oak barrels for 21 months and bottled on July 22nd, 2019.
It should be noted that the horrific 2017 Wine Country wildfires began on October 8th and raged in the mountains surrounding Napa and Sonoma Valleys for a week. Although most Napa Valley grapes had been harvested by that date (Accendo’s last harvest date was October 6th, so we avoided any smoke damage to our white or red grapes), the fires destroyed homes and one Napa winery. The Napa community came together in support of those in need and again showed its resilience and spirit."
Reviews:
96pts Wine Spectator
"A beauty, with lush, velvety and seductive waves of creamed plum, blackberry reduction and warmed fig compote notes, seamlessly inlaid with singed alder, loam and humus details. Shows a flicker of menthol at the very end as everything melds together. A big wine, without any of the telltale hiccups of the vintage."
95pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
"Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon sashays out of the glass with nonchalant notions of chocolate-covered cherries, mulberries, warm plums and boysenberries with hints of lavender, underbrush and fragrant soil plus a waft of cedar chest. Medium to full-bodied, the palate reveals wonderful vitality with loads of perfumed black fruit and a sturdy, grainy frame, finishing with a little spiciness coming through."