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  • A bottle of Etude Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
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2020 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

2020 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Napa Valley750ml

The Etude Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is handcrafted with grapes from unique benchland vineyards representing the major sub-appellations of Napa Valley. Sure to continue gaining complexity an...

The Etude Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is handcrafted with grapes from unique benchland vineyards representing the major sub-appellations of Napa Valley. Sure to continue gaining complexity and revealing additional character with age, the wine is suitable for immediate enjoyment or cellaring for another two decades.

$100.00
$100.00

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Specifications

  • Vintage: 2020
  • Region: Napa Valley
  • Appelation: Napa Valley
  • Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

Tasting Notes

Our 2020 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is expressive and vibrant on the nose with ripe berry aromas of blackberry, black cherry, boysenberry and dark plum. On the palate, layers of juicy black currant, cassis, and black raspberry interweave with spiced notes of nutmeg, fennel seed, and cedar, a nod to the delicately integrated subtle oak tones, while a crushed earth character provides minerality, depth, and nuance. This wine is rich and full-bodied with a velvety texture and firm, fine-grained tannins, all supported by a balanced refreshing acidity that provides lift and evolves into a long, savory, mouthwatering finish. A truly satisfying Cabernet, with complexity and aging potential, exhibiting the extraordinary vineyard terroir that Napa offers.

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Expert reviews

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"Black currant and lead pencil aromas with some violet undertones. Full-bodied with lots of berries and open-grained tannins that are polished yet slight firm in the finish. Needs time to soften. Better after 2025." - JamesSuckling.com, Nov 17. 2023

The Vineyard

Napa Valley Vineyards

The Etude Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is handcrafted with grapes from unique bench land vineyards representing the major sub-appellations of Napa Valley. The 2020 Cabernet was sourced with fruit from some of the most highly regarded winegrowers in Napa Valley — Vine Hill Ranch and Gamble Vineyard in Oakville, Bear Flats Vineyard in Calistoga, Morisoli Vineyards in Rutherford, Bale Lane vineyard in St. Helena, and Meteor Vineyard in Coombsville. By deliberately sourcing fruit from this group of exemplary vineyards, this wine exhibits the full potential of what Cabernet Sauvignon can show, in its flavors and textures, with vitality and finesse.

Process

The 2020 vintage

  • Winter

    The 2020 season is considered another successful vintage, despite being remembered for factors beyond the typical harvest season. It was a warm, dry winter and the rain and cooler weather didn’t arrive until the end of March.

  • Spring

    While the mild spring season was a great early start, our winery working conditions had extensive safety protocols due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • Summer

    Summer brought very cool mornings and very warm days, but then harvest was interrupted by wildfires across California, which came as grapes started to be picked, and we were very fortunate that none of our vineyards were in the areas of the active fires.

  • Harvest

    The red wine harvest started in late August, with the wines showing excellent development in cellars, reflecting the fine vintage year.

Crafted Excellence

Winemaking

Etude’s philosophy remains steadfast, and this Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is no exception as this wine was crafted with very minimal winemaking intervention. The grapes were cold soaked for 3-5 days and fermented on their skins in open top fermenters. An extended maceration period followed fermentation to help modify the depth and mouthfeel of the wine, and to fully extract color, flavor, and aromatics. The young wine was then racked into small French oak barrels – using a selection of coopers and forests to accentuate the vineyard distinctions – where it aged for 20 months in 100% French Oak (75% new). To maintain the unique characteristics of each vineyard, each block and lot was kept separate until final blending.