[Pre-Arrival] Matthiasson Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

SPECIAL PRE-ARRIVAL OFFER:
Case of 6+ bottles: $195.00/bottle
Stock due to land late October 2025; orders will be dispatched on arrival

Accolades:
99/100 – Decanter
94/100 – James Suckling (2021 vintage)

“The first 2022 Napa Cabernet I’ve tasted that avoids the warm, juicy ripeness often associated with the vintage. Instead, it stays true to its character, showcasing beautifully pure black cherry and blue fruit aromatics, with a cooling menthol note and coiled energy. Framed by crisp, crunchy tannins and gorgeous, lacy acidity, leading to an impressively long finish of violets and fragrant bay laurel. Precise and focused. The blend contains 4% each of Petit Verdot and Merlot.” – Decanter

“Matthiasson is always among my favorite representations of über-classic, elegantly crafted Cabernet Sauvignon and their 2017 is poised to make deafening noise on a global scale. This is one of the most sought-after, tried-and-true labels in America for a reason.” – Ian Cauble, Master Sommelier

Tasting Note: Our goal is to bring back the Napa Cab of yore, back when Napa Cab was a vibrant and juicy, elegant and boisterous at the same time, red fruited with accents of herbs and dark fruits, food-compatible, moderate in alcohol, and crushable along with being complex and age-worthy. The nose shows abundant dark and red fruits, lots of cherry along with blackberry, cranberry, mulberry, and framed with hints of mineral/herbal characters, such as graphite, cedar, and pencil shavings. The palate is vibrant and fresh, with lots of age-worthy tannin and beautiful acidity. Though ready to drink now, this is also one for the cellar, and decanting is highly recommended.

Vineyard & Vintage Notes: In the tradition of old-school Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, ours is a blended wine that represents the entire Napa Valley and includes a small amount of other Bordeaux varieties to complete the wine. For complexity and balance our Cab is composed of fruit from our estate-farmed vineyards throughout the Napa Valley. Rutherford gives us that classic Napa character (summer oak leaf dust and red fruits), Calistoga gives us the dark fruits, Coombsville brings structure and minerality, Mt. Veeder adds in fresh herbs and tannin structure, and Oak Knoll provides softness. The Merlot and Petit Verdot plump up the mid-palate for some nice fleshy yumminess. 2022 was a textbook year for us. Fall and winter rains had eased the multi-year drought, but the spring was still warm and dry, so 2022 gave us another early budbreak and conditions for small berries. Then a mild summer delivered smooth sailing all the way until harvest (we dodged the epic September 2022 heat spell; all of our fruit was already in tank or barrel). Our 2022 wines reflect the “Goldilocks” vintage, not too hot, and not too cool, just right for balanced wine that tastes of the place rather than any certain vintage conditions.

Winemaking Notes: The fruit was fermented in small tanks and either punched down or pumped over twice per day, depending on flavor; we don’t strive for a high rate of extraction, instead choosing to preserve the freshness and high-toned aromatics. Fermentation temperatures are cool, so the fermentations were long and slow, mostly lasting around two weeks. The wine was pressed at dryness, blended immediately after ML, and aged for 20 months in a combination of mostly used and a few new barrels (<20% new French oak, mostly Taransaud and Bossuet), along with large format Stockinger foudres.

Certification: Organic

Alcohol: 13.0%

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: Coombsville, Rutherford and Oak Knoll AVAs, Napa, California