Complant Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

Napa Valley in northern California is home to some of the best Cabernet Sauvignons in the world.

And here is a great example, made by a winemaker with decades of experience in Napa and Bordeaux’s most iconic wineries.

Daniel works with a well-drained, gravelly site on a small plateau surrounded by forest on Mount Veeder, which overlooks Oakville. The grower is David Abreu - who is vineyard manager to the stars of Napa wine.

Petit Verdot is perhaps the secret weapon to this wine’s deliciousness. Daniel’s loved Petit Verdot since he came across it in Chateau Margaux in the 1980s - and he thinks the Petit Verdot he sources from David Abreu’s vineyard is the best in Napa.

He then co-ferments it with the Cabernet Sauvignon - which allows him to use up to 14% in the overall blend - you would normally expect to see 1% in blends. This holds, integrates and brightens the Cab nose.

The wine is aged in thin-staved bordeaux oak barrels - 22% of which are new. Daniel uses various techniques to develop texture and aromatics in the wine - mirroring what they do in Latour and Petrus. He even once brought home $5,000 worth of artisan tools from France to employ in his winemaking.

If you love good Bordeaux, this is right up your street. It’s Daniel’s ultimate expression of time, place and grape variety.

And this particular time was a stressful one - the terrible October 2017 wildfires which devastated Northern California. Daniel told me about sneaking through fire lines to get to the winery, and doing manual bucket pump-overs because there was no electricity.

We’re so glad Daniel pulled through and we can extra appreciate the wine after all of that!