By Terra Valentine
2018 Wurtele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District

Wine Details
Vineyard Properties: Wurtele Vineyard
Appellation: Spring Mountain District
Clonal Selections: Clone 7
Year Planted: 1990
Yields: 2.5 tons/acre
Harvest Brix: 26.4
Coopers: Nadalie, Orion, and Ermitage
Bottled: July 2020
Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Growing Season
2018 was a seamless season of heavenly hangtime and phenomenal phenolic development. Filtered light in spring and early summer. Both bud break and flowering occurred a bit early, but under ideal weather conditions, creating plentiful and even fruit set. Summer brought generous daytime sun and cooler marine influences, with minimal major heat spikes. The relatively mild summer, followed by extended fall sunshine and moderate heat, created near-ideal conditions, allowing our fruit to develop flavor complexity and gradually increase in sugar levels.

Winemaking
Hand-harvested, picked at night. Gently de-stemmed and whole berries transferred to stainless steel. Cold-soaked for 48 hours. Inoculated with D80 yeast and fermented for 21 days on skins. Free-run juice drained from tank, settled for 24 hours, then racked to barrel. Aged for 20 months in French oak barrels, 66% new.

Tasting Notes
Big, bold, mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from the founding Wurtele Vineyard, sourced from the esteemed mountain estate. Dark fruit, with lingering chewy tannins. Known for its balanced, bright, dark-fruit flavors, with rich black and cherry notes leading into a broad mid-palate and a long, lingering finish.
[Information provided by Matador Vino]

Wine: 2018 Terra Valentine Cabernet Sauvignon Wurtele Vineyard
Score/Rating: 93+
Suggested Drinking Window: 2025 - 2040
Review Date: 05/31/2022
Reviewed By: Joe Czerwinski
Tasting Notes: The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Wurtele Vineyard - from a site between 600 and 1,000 feet above sea level planted to Clone 7 in 1990 - boasts vaguely floral scents, plus more standard cassis, sage and bay leaf notes. Like all of the Terra Valentine wines in 2018, it's full-bodied and tannic. With its intensity and chewy finish, it clearly needs time, but it shows enticing complexity already.

Wine: Terra Valentine Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Spring Mountain District Wurtele Vineyard 2018
Score/Rating: 92
Review Date: 10/18/2021
Reviewed By: James Suckling
Tasting Notes: Dark chocolate, sweet vanilla and tar with lots of ripe plums and blackberries. Some pine wood, too. Full-bodied and chewy, yet there’s a juicy mouth-feel. Long, savory finish. A little rough now. Give it two or three years to soften.