An uncharacteristically cool vintage in Napa, combined with the well drained, gravelly soils at Young Inglewood produced a wine of silky elegance and firm tannic structure, which has allowed it to age slowly and gracefully. After a night harvest, to help preserve acidity, the bunches were destemmed and fermented in tanks using native yeasts. After a slow, cool fermentation the wine was racked once into French oak barrels, 60% new, for 22 months of aging before being bottled. Give this beauty a brief decant and serve at 60 to 65 degrees in your best Bordeaux stems to enjoy endless layers of cassis, wild plum, black and red currants, bitter chocolate, clove, cigar box, mint, and a meaty, savory minerality. The easy comparison is to a top Margaux, but indeed it actually harkens back to old bottles of Mayacamas or Spottswoode that we’ve been lucky enough to try over the years.
