Snowden Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 (75cl, 14.5%)

An estate-grown Napa Valley red wine from Snowden Vineyards, blended from 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. The Cabernet comes from two contrasting sites: the Pool Block at 650 feet and the Lost Orchard Vineyard at 850 feet. Fermentation uses native yeast with no fermentation additives and gentle extraction, followed by seventeen months in fifty percent new oak barrels and bottling without filtration. The nose shows cassis, black cherries, cedar, sweet tobacco, muscovado sugar, thyme and sage. The palate is ripe and direct, with mulled plum and linzer torte, then graphite, dark chocolate, sassafras and cedar, with plushness from the Merlot. The finish is silky and persistent, with blackberry, cedar and a faint mineral trace.