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News
The 2019 Helms Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is perfumed with red currant, plums, dried violets, star anise, and savory mint and thyme. The tannins are present but precise and elegant. On the palate the wine opens with flavors of plums, black cherry, wildflowers, and sweet spice. The finish lingers with notes of pipe tobacco, fig preserve, and sassafras layered with cocoa powder like tannins. While delicious now, the wine will gracefully gain mo...
Wine Description
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...
Wine Information
Our philosophy of minimal intervention in the vineyard is realized through organic farming, a focus on soil health and minimal irrigation. The result is healthy vines that are balanced and produce thick-skinned darkly colored grapes. This gives rise to wines with perfumed aromatics, precise flavors, and silky tannins.
The cool wet start to the growing season delayed harvest by a couple of weeks. The majority of the vineyard was picked on ...
Vintage 2019
The winter and early spring brought ample rain to the Napa Valley. A dry April was followed by one of the wettest May’s on record, providing much needed hydration. The moist soils meant the vines had access to nutrients, especially potassium, resulting in full canopies and softer acidity in the wine. The cooler weather through mid-summer slowed shoot growth and delayed verasion by a few weeks. In mid-August the season heated up with 90+ temper...
