La Pelle Coombesville Ceniza Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 6-Pack 750mL

"Winemaker Maayan Koschitzky's project. The Ceniza Vineyard sits next to Farella on the eastern slopes of Coombsville and is compacted volcanic ash farmed organically since 1994. Working with Silverado Farming Company, he aims to transition his vines to dry farming to obtain ripeness earlier in the season and avoid fire threats. He's worked with this site for a decade now, and it has contributed to the La Pelle wines since 2016. Lifted and floral with fragrant black-toned fruits, cassis, lovely cedarwood spices, sagebrush, and graphite. Full-bodied with very ripe and assertive tannins, pure blackberry and black cherry fruits with a very long fruit-driven finish capped off by expressive acidity and a dark chocolate finish. The shovel on the La Pelle label symbolises Maayan, representing a farmer-as-winemaker mentality and the winemaker's tool for digging the tank out. His white-label wines are Napa Valley appellation and are blends of place. The Single Vineyard wines are about terroir, so the label depicts the soil. And the black label is the Reserve, a blend from the three single vineyards. And any other labels he crafts from outside of Napa Valley show maps on the label. Maayan sees these labels as a chance to impart knowledge about Napa and its blends vs. its single vineyards -- a way to educate consumers about the diversity of Napa. He wants to be able to taste these wines a decade from now and talk only about the vintage." - Decanter, DC98, tasted 1/2024