This wine exemplifies why Oakville is the premiere Napa Valley appellation for Cabernet.
WINEMAKER JEFF AMES’ NOTEBOOK:
Vineyard: Our TOR Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon hails from two incredible vineyards that we are blessed to work within the Oakville appellation – Double H Ranch (Harter) Vineyard, and Renteria 360 Vineyard. Double H Ranch Vineyard is a jewel on the western slopes of the Vaca Range. The iron-rich site gives 2023 Oakville its signature dark fruit and perfumed characteristics. The Renteria 360 Vineyard is in the northeastern part of Oakville and has a long history of producing excellent wines.
Winemaking: This is a mix of fruit from the Renteria 360 vineyard on Skellenger Lane and the Harter Vineyard in the Eastern Oakville hills. These two sites were fermented apart but then blended back together at numerous blending trials over the last 15 months. I have become a bigger fan of these late and cool vintages over the years from the complexity they seem to build into the wines.
Winemaker’s Tasting Notes: The 2023 Oakville Cabernet returns to the darker side of the spectrum for our Oakville cab after the slightly more red profile of 2022. This has tons of spice, clove, and bittersweet chocolate along with just a little bit of that wet, damp earth. On the pallet, it is full weight and shows a little bit of smoked Texas beef brisket, black fruit, and a little bit of soy sauce along with cedary dusty red earth. This is probably most similar to the 2021 Oakville so will be paired best with rich meats (I like it with venison) or just had on its own.
Vintage Report: The 2023 vintage was similar to the 2018 vintage in how cool it was, how long the vintage was, and how late it started. The key to 2023 was not ‘panic picking’ just because you were harvesting so much later in the year than normal and waiting it out until you got the ripeness and sugars that the fruit needed. The hallmarks of the wines are darker black and blue fruit spectrums and denser but streamlined tannins. A great Napa Valley vintage.
