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  • Country ranking ?

    130
  • Producer ranking ?

    12
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2030
  • Food Pairing

    Rib Eye Steaks with Demi-Glace and White Bean Purée

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"Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Helms Vineyard has a gregarious nose of freshly crushed black currants, black berries and mulberries with touches of red roses, Indian spices, dried mint and unsmoked cigars. Medium-bodied, fine, fresh and elegantly styled, it delivers tons of black berry and spicy layers with a fine-grained backbone and very long, lively finish."

98+ points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown (Dec. 2017)

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The Story

This gently sloping site is relatively cool, and is protected from the intensity of the late afternoon heat during the height of the growing season.  The gravelly loam soils provide excellent drainage and wonderful fruit purity. Helms Vineyard Cabernet displays the classic profile of the Rutherford Bench: dark fruit, richly layered with a touch of spice and earth. The finely grained “dusty” tannins so prevalent in the appellation are integrate...

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Wine Information

The 2015 vintage produced excellent fruit quality. Our vineyards received slightly less than average rainfall, but compared to the previous years of drought conditions the vines started the growing season with ample water in the soil. The winter and spring were among the warmest on record, and pushed bud-break two to three weeks ahead of 2013 and 2014, setting up for an early harvest. The warm dry spring led to less vine growth with shorter th...

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Helms Vineyard is intensely aromatic and lifted, with expressive floral and minty notes that lead into a core of bright red stone fruit. Racy and luscious on the palate, the 2015 is showing very well today.

  • 95p
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Information

Origin

St Helena, Napa Valley

Inside Information

The earliest harvest at the Helms Estate in Dana Estates’ history. Our decision to prune early played a critical part in giving the vines enough time to fully ripen the fruit. We started harvesting just before a heat spell on September 11th, the earliest harvest by two full weeks. Our next pick was a week later from the lower block of clone 337 during a cool period between the two September heat events. Smaller vines and our commitment to minimal irrigation over the past decade produced intensely flavored fruit with minimal dehydration. The fruit was fermented in both oak tank and barrels for 30-35 days by native yeast and the resulting wines were drained directly to barrel for aging.

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