Our first ever release of Cabernet Sauvignon. Our first ever release of Napa appellation wine. Our first “pretty darn expensive” wine. What on earth is going on here? I thought Stereophonic was geeked out to the max?

We are. But as particular and grumpy as we can be about the same-old same-old wines - this simply wasn’t that - this was an overlooked vineyard planted decades ago before modern California rushed into to make all those me-too wines. So we took a chance on this (just-shy-of) an acre of widely-spaced, unknown clone Cabernet. Part of the vineyard (we’d estimate about 15%) can’t produce any longer or is being tormented by birds. So we’re left with just a few bins of utterly spotless, small-berried Cabernet harvested at a traditional ripeness level.

Inspired by (but not a replication of) the Cabernets that made Napa famous in the 70’s and 80’s, “Untrue” boasts abundant cherry and currant fruits laced with tobacco and spicy peppercorn accents. It’s generous but with air shows a underlying structure that really justifies 5-10 years of cellaring to enjoy it’s true potential. It’s a swirl of powerful flavors, spiciness and grip that makes for a fantastic dinner companion.

This vineyard sits on the exact border of Diamond Mountain District and Sonoma and is closest to Armstrong Ranch (half a mile), an old site that is used at Lerner Project, at Provenance as a single vineyard, and was a St. Clement Vineyard designate a long time ago. AR also makes up a little bit of Beringer’s Private Reserve Cabernet Program. This is a 35-40 year old vineyard that faces east, is planted pretty widely spaced and information on clone was never kept. We picked at 25.5 brix and put it into new medium toast barrels from Saury and Atelier CF. I think our winemaker Aaron did a great job and we plan to produce more Napa wines as his style suits our fruit up here.

Three Barrels Made.