2015 Revana Family Cabernet Sauvignon Terroir Selection

This was the first property acquired by Dr Revana, and the first vintage was 2001. Winemaker is Thomas Rivers Brown. A blend of Oak Knoll, Calistoga and St Helena grapes. 75% Cab (some estate grapes), 20% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot (all estate grapes).  Whole-cluster, optical sorting machine, ‘the grapes come out like caviar’. No expense spared. Five-day cold soak. They ferment at high temperatures, short and fast, open top, pumpovers six to 12 times a day. 14 months in 85% new French oak, 12 months in bottle. Most sulphur dioxide additions done just before bottling. Generally don’t add acidity. No acid additions in 2017. Deep, forward, lushly dark fruit, glistening with ripeness and almost crazily heady with a kind of crushed night-flower fragrance. Velvety, b lack cherries and blackberries with a cloud of night florals drifting over the top. Sumptuous, sensuous, a bit of a jaguar. Voluptuous, and yet there is a cool breath of apple mint drawing it into something longer and more elegant than the fruit by itself would have been. Super-fine barrel spice threading through the fruit like a tapestry. Drinking beautifully now. (TC)