Winter Release Meteor Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
2018

Winemaker’s Notes

Our 2018 Meteor Cabernet is a spectacular new release, a real “wow” wine that hits all the pleasure points. In this remarkable vintage, the vines performed brilliantly, and this is as unadulterated an expression of this wonderful site as one could imagine. There’s no winemaking artifice or overt barrel use here, merely the sophisticated elegance and purity that is the calling card of the cool bayside Coombsville region. With grapes this good, we only need to nurture the wine from vine to bottle in as measured manner as possible to achieve such a complete nuanced expression.

The aromas teem with black and blue fruits – blackcurrant, blackberry and boysenberry—with violet and lilac floral lift, notes of sweet spices and dried herbs, and a fresh, sweet spearmint edge. The wine is incredibly intense and dynamic on the palate with a silky granular texture and remarkably deep, cool-toned fruit and savory characters. Broad fine-grained tannins provide tremendous lift to the wine’s natural richness and density. The wine expands to an explosive finish with a note of anise and lavender complexity. Absolutely gorgeous!

The beauty of the 2018 reds is that you can drink them soon after release, from mid-2021. However, I think this wine’s best days will be between 2022 and 2030 as the various components find their equilibrium and fuse together completely.

Andy Smith