Background

In “Sonnette”, French for small bell, we have created our second proprietary wine, a wine that captures the purest fruit expression from the many grape varieties grown in Napa Valley.  The spiritual successor to our favorite red blend Talianna, the Sonnette has become a selection of particularly expressive barrel lots from each vintage, offering us a chance to introduce you to the synergistic harmony that can come from artful blending.  The very limited quantity of Sonnette produced is selected from among our best barrel lots, each chosen for their concentration, depth of flavor, varietal expression and supple tannin structure.  Each grape variety and wine lot included in this blend was aged independently for 20 months, until our winemaker crafted the final blend prior to bottling.  In the case of the 2021 vintage blend, our winemaker chose to highlight the unusually bountiful Cabernet Franc from the Chang Vineyard, and one of the best recent vintages of our Estate Merlot block, then built around that with Cabernet Sauvignon until the right balance was reached.  A classic Right Bank-styled Bordeaux blend with some Napa flair.

Vintage Notes

Vintage 2021 brought a mercifully gentle growing season to the Napa Valley, following the challenging 2020 harvest: no major heat spikes, a relatively long, mild late summer, and most importantly, no local fires and smoke.  The story of the year was the continued drought, which kicked off the growing season at a disadvantage.  It was a year of haves and have-nots, in which the growers with adequate well water were able to establish and ripen a decent crop, while others had no water, and struggled to keep vines healthy throughout the high demand of wine grape ripening.  Some of the latter group either had to drop some fruit, or in the worst cases, relinquish the entire crop for the season.  For some, the good news was that the stress of the prior year led to a small crop, allowing even those with limiting circumstances to still produce a high-quality, ripened crop, aided by the mild weather.  For most, the bad news was also the small crop, following the 2020 vintage in which the fires and smoke prompted many winemakers to bring in less fruit or skip the vintage entirely.  The silver lining around the 2021 harvest was that most growers were able to produce a healthy crop, and the wines from the vintage display a beautiful purity and freshness, coupled with ripe flavors at naturally lower alcohol levels.

Tasting Notes

The 2021 Sonnette impresses with its youthful crimson color and expressive notes of cassis, black tea, dried herbs and toasted biscuit on the nose.  On the palate, it reveals a rich texture and flavors of ripe cassis and dark fruits intertwined with a faint herbal note coming from Merlot grown in a cooler climate, to create a mouthwatering and memorable wine with ample structure.  This one will age well, but if enjoying in the near term, we recommend 20 - 30 minutes of decanting beforehand to allow the expressive fruit layers to emerge.  Otherwise, this wine will probably be at its peak from 2025 – 2028 in regard to integration, development and full expression.

Technical Analysis

Varietal               Merlot (55%), Cabernet Franc (31%), Cabernet Sauvignon (14%)
Appellation         Napa Valley (Yountvilles, Oak Knoll, St. Helena)

Harvest Sugar     24.9 Brix
Acid                     0.60 gm/100ml
pH                       3.69
Alcohol               14.9%
Aging                  20 Months, 100% French Oak, 56% new
Bottling Date      July 8, 2023
Production          475 cases