2013 Antica Cabernet Sauvignon Napa

ANTICA NAPA VALLEY

2012 CABERNET SAUVIGNON

Origin: Atlas Peak District - Napa Valley

Grapes: 100% estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon possesses enormous charm and appeal. Its deep purple color is followed by inviting aromas of

blackberries, red currants, cassis and chocolate. On the palate the wine is rich, savory and full bodied finishing with firm, silky tannins and a long persistence.

Climate/Vintage:

Winter temperatures were mild with average rainfall allowing the vines to quietly rest during the dormancy period. The weather during budbreak and flowering were ideal, leading to an excellent fruit set with berry uniformity within each cluster.  Summer and fall brought warm temperatures, but with no heat waves. The Cabernet Sauvignon fruit enjoyed a long, slow ripening period through September and into October and ripened fully to provide the wine with its dark color, rich varietal purity, and ageworthiness.

Vineyard:

These Cabernet Sauvignon grapes came from up to 23-year-old vines and were harvested from fourteen vineyard blocks that each have their own identifiable qualities.  The vineyards are planted up to 1,800 feet above the Napa Valley floor, in the volcanic soil series Boomer Gravelly Loam, Perkins Gravelly Loam and Aiken Loam, all soils formed in material weathered from basalt and andesite. The vineyards are planted between various distinct Cabernet Sauvignon clones, providing further complexity in aromatics and flavors.  

Vinification:

The Cabernet Sauvignon grape harvest began on September 19 and completed on October 21. Each vineyard was tested daily to determine the optimum moment to harvest the grapes, maximizing fruit flavor intensity. The grapes were harvested in the cool early morning hours and immediately taken to the winery, where the berries were removed from the stems and placed onto the “Tommy” automatic grape-sorting system before being placed in the stainless steel fermenting tank. Each vineyard block was fermented individually to maintain the distinctive characteristics of its grapes. Fermentation took place 10-14 days in temperature-controlled tanks. After the new wine was removed from the skins, it was racked into primarily French oak barrels where it went through complete malolactic fermentation. When the barrel ageing period was completed after 16 months, the wine in each barrel was tasted and the final selections made. Individual barrels were racked resulting in the final blend. Antica Associate Winemaker Melissa Apter and Antinori Chief Enologist Renzo Cotarella combined their winemaking expertise to create  a wine of distinguishable Antica Napa Valley character.

Soprattutto is Italian for “above all,” and reflects Piero Antinori’s guiding principle when he selected the place for Antica Napa Valley: altitude.  

The estate is considered to be, above all, ideal winegrowing country.  Piero knew that this property’s particular location—with its steep terrain, rocky, well-drained soils and high elevation—also offered great potential for growing quality wine grapes. Soprattutto is our small collection of estate-grown wines which deliciously express the Antinori Family’s rich Tuscan heritage now continued in Napa ValleyThe Wine Advocate's Antonio Galloni on the 2009 vintage from Northern California:  

A bit about the Antinori Family:

The Antinori family has been making wine for a long time—as in over 600 years long and across 26 generations. To many, 600 years sounds like an eternity which makes it hard to wrap your head around, kind of like infinity or black holes. So here’s a mini history lesson to give a frame of reference. In 1368, just 17 years before Giovanni di Piero Antinori became part of the Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri and began making wine in 1385, the Ming Dynasty in China had just risen to power. Michelangelo was born in 1475, and when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in1492 to discover the Americas, the Antinoris had already been making wine for 107 years.

Be it your family or the Antinoris, the dynamics of most family relationships are quite similar—they have their moments. So it’s surprising,maybe even astonishing, that the Antinori family has always personally managed the business. Even today it’s still family owned with Marchese Piero Antinori at the helm and his three brainy and beautiful daughters, Albiera, Allegra, and Alessia, all passionately involved in the business. So unlike many dynasties that wither and fall, the passing of time making their demise romantically tragic, the Antinori’s reputation has not only carried-on, but grown.

It’s hard not to be enchanted by California. The state’s beauty and natural resources have beckoned people from the far reaches of the world for years. So it’s fitting that after Piero Antinori’s first visit to Napa Valley in 1966, he couldn’t get The Golden State out of his mind.

It took 20 years, but when he returned to California in the mid-1980s, Piero Antinori was a man with a plan. The Antinori family purchased shares in a venture along with England’s Whitbread and France’s Champagne Bollinger to develop a 1,200 acre Napa Valley wine estate on a high plain in the eastern mountains of Napa Valley. The hilly terrain was considered to be above all ideal wine growing country, but while some may have scratched their heads and asked, “Why here?” Marchese Antinori knew that the property’s location—with its rocky soil, high elevation, and drop-dead gorgeous landscape—had great potential for growing quality wine grapes.

For Antinori, this land was love at first sight. So it seemed like fate when the Antinori family was presented with the opportunity to purchase the Whitbred’s and Bollinger’s shares in 1993. The family bought out the partners and happily assumed direct ownership of the estate. Piero Antinori hand-picked reserve blocks that would be used to produce an Antinori Family Napa Valley wine; the remaining blocks were leased under a 15-year agreement that expired in November 2008.

As luck would also have it, a neighbor was looking to sell a property adjacent to the estate. So in 1998, the family bought an adjoining tract of land that included 24 acres of vineyard. This boon gave us an additional selection of grapes to use in our first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon (2001), and though limited in production, it was a small but important first step towards establishing our Napa Valley property.

In 2006, the estate was named Antica Napa Valley—Antica being a combination of Antinori and California, and the word for ancient in Italian. But Antica is more than a name. It’s a symbol that represents the realization of Piero Antinori’s long-standing desire to produce a Napa Valley wineand a milestone in the family’s long winemaking tradition.