Tasting Notes

This wine is vivacious and expressive in the nose, offering beautiful ripe cherries, currants, and fresh raspberries. There are lovely layers of chocolate, cassis bud, rhubarb, clove and vanilla in the nose. This wine is big and mouth-filling with supple tannins and a delicate center. These soft but rich tannins lead gently to a lengthy finish. A strong but balanced acidity pulls all these elements together, making this wine a perfect companion with a variety of foods. As this wine sits in the decanter, it gets better and better, indicating that it is another age-worthy wine for your cellar. 10/25/13

Vintage Notes

It is no secret that the 2011 vintage was perhaps the most challenging vintage that many winemakers and grape growers had yet seen in their careers. It was the coldest and wettest vintage in decades. An unseasonably cool and wet spring extended into June, increasing canopy growth and pumping up berry size. The summer growing season broke with only mild temperatures. Soil profiles were holding water, and the battle against mildew raged. Extensive crop dropping and leaf removal was key to increasing airflow and managing mildew. Harvest decisions were challenging, cooler temperatures and high water availability resulted in lower than usual Brix levels, but the late summer brought warm, damp days, which would only result in increased mildew pressure. It was the most delayed start to a harvest that Napa Valley has seen. In the winery, hard work, slow and intensive sorting, as well as aggressive saignee, were keys to producing lovely wines, expressive of this unique vintage. 

Vineyard Notes

We make our Cabernet Sauvignon by hand harvesting as early as we can to prevent excessive alcohol, and as late as we have to for ripe delicious flavors, always with an eye for balance and elegance. You will always find that bright fruit and lovely acidity inter-twined with silky tannins in Red Mare’s Cabernet Sauvignon.  We source our fruit from organic or highly sustainable vineyards. Once in the cellar, we use old-world methods, favoring technique over additives.