2017 Ark Cabernet Sauvignon 9LArk

VINEYARD NOTES: 

The single estate vineyard ARK is located just outside St. Helena, California at the base
of Howell Mountain. It was originally planted in the 1880s, but was sadly lost to Prohibition.
It took us five years to rebuild; she is our pride and joy.

The ARK is comprised of nine different blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon, planted meter by
meter in nine different volcanic soil strata. The vineyard stretches through a sixty-million-year
time sequence: three ancient beach fronts, a prehistoric weapons quarry, and spans a 180-degree arc of the sun over its half-mile length.

Hot afternoon sun known to damage aromatics in the fruit (on the hottest days), is blocked by the shade of Glass Mountain (named for the rare obsidian rock found in the soil and for
ancient weapons such as arrowheads) which rises to the western side of the ARK vineyard.

As with all of our vineyards, we pick only when the fruit is perfectly ripe; this doesn’t always
happen at once. It is common for us to make multiple passes through the vineyard, picking
different clusters from the same vines as they reach perfect maturity. This attention to detail is critical to making a wine the caliber of Hundred Acre.

TASTING NOTES: 

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon ARK Vineyard features beguiling scents of Montreal-style
smoked meat backed by waves of black cherries and cassis. It's full-bodied, rich, plush and
expansive on the palate, captivating for its mix of savory and fruity flavors. Offering tons of
fun in the glass, this finishes long and tannic but also smoothly silky. It's a complete wine by
any measure.

COOPERAGE: 

Aged for 40 months in the finest French oak barrique. The stave wood is hand-selected for
ultra-tight grain, then air dried for three years before being made into barrels.