Celani Family Vineyards 2018

The aromas are sophisticated and expressive with pineapple, creamy strawberries, lychee fruit, flinty minerals, Bosch pear skin, and citrus flowers. Nuances ofgunpowder, white pepper and early summer melon add further dimension to these complex aromatics. The mouth is simultaneously rich and delicate with creamy minerality upfront, opulent yet pure Chardonnay flavors and finishes with a kiss oftoasted brioche and hazelnuts.

The Celanis’ bought this property in 2005 after a long love affair with the Napa Valley. Knowing that they wanted to make wine of a certain style (modeled after some of the great wines of Bordeaux, yet with Napa fruit), they enlisted the help of Mark Herold to help them with the endeavor.

Mark Herold, the winemaker, is an artist who has a strong science background. He hold a PhD from UC Davis. Mark is much like a painter in the way he composes his wines. He can come across as easy going and free spirited, but he is adamant about a few things in winemaking: he uses cool climate fruit for producing our Cabs and with our reds; there is no fining or filtration.

We source our Cabernet fruit from six different vineyards along the Vaca Range: Stagecoach Vineyard on Atlas Peak and we use some smaller, virtually unknown vineyards in Napa’s newly recognized Coombsville Appellation. Both Coombsville and Atlas Peak are prized for their cooler climates. In years when the valley floor is hot, and growers are concerned with heat spikes, high sugars and evening rais-ining. The cooler hills have a more temperate growing season allowing for longer hang time. This extending hang time allows for flavor development and preservation of acidity of the grapes.

Lastly, they use all 100% French oak barrels, 95% of which are strong or heavy toast. Also, a generous percentage of our barrels are produced by Darnajou. Darnajou is the sole barrel provider for Chateau Petrus, one of their favorite French