2022 “The Leaf” Cabernet Sauvignon

THE LEAF is a wine inspired by the understanding that nature is always magnificent, even when it is challenging. In one particularly devastating season years ago, we walked through Obsidian Ridge Vineyard while overhead, smoke and ash drifting from distant fires blocked the sun. As we came to accept that our crop was lost, a single silver leaf floated gracefully to the ground at our feet. A thing of terrible beauty—flash-carbonized in an instant—we captured it in a photograph that has since become a talisman, a work of art that reminds us of the impermanence of all things. There is no such thing as a perfect vintage. As farmers, we spend our lives working with nature. Observing. Adjusting. Discovering. Each season is unique. Some years are challenging, when nature throws everything it has at us. Others are a rare gift. The Leaf reminds us to take nothing for granted.

TASTING NOTES
A shocking number of things need to go right for a wine like The Leaf to exist. Grown and vinified with minimal intervention in a nearly-perfect vintage, this is a wine of rare and natural balance. The fruit is the star here, delicate, nuanced, complicated, beguiling. It is a singular Cabernet Sauvignon from a singular site in a singular year. We know we will not be able to make such a wine every year.

VOLCANIC VINEYARD SITE
Obsidian Ridge Vineyard is sits on a volcanic flow at the northern tip of the Mayacamas Range at a half mile of elevation. Vines planted in 1999 on red volcanic soils shot with black obsidian are subject to an unforgiving mountain climate. Low humidity, cold night time temperatures, and ultraviolet exposure 10% greater than at sea level all contribute to developing small grapes with dark color, thick skins, and intense flavors.

WINEMAKING
Winemaker Alex Beloz begins an exercise in optimism in early Spring, identifying blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon that have the potential to to achieve individual balance and greatness, monitoring their develoment carefully. If the stars align, one small lot of pristine grapes will find their way to ferment in a single upright cask crafted specifically for this purpose from the tightest grain Hungarian oak. These dense staves are naturally low in vanillan and toasted lightly to avoid imparting any toast character. Once pressed, the wine returns to this same cask to age undisturbed until ready for bottling.

Alex Beloz, Winemaker