Alcohol: 14.5%
Grape(s): 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot
Location: Napa Valley, California, USA
Tasting Notes: Oakcross has an expressive bouquet of raspberry, boysenberry, blueberry cream pie, and crushed blackberry, interwoven with hints of clove, violets, pencil shaving, freshly grilled bread, and bittersweet chocolate. On the palate, a ripe plum entry gives way to tart cherry, mixed berries, and mocha, with underlying notes of graphite, cranberry, and a touch of paprika, complemented by delicate, plush tannins.
Notes: Each vintage’s blend for this wine is guided by the conditions of the growing season and our winemakers’ intuition. In the vineyards, we do a pre-veraison cluster thinning followed by two post-veraison cluster-thinning passes. Cabernet clusters are harvested at night, ensuring the berries are plump, the crews aren’t battling the daytime heat, and the fruit will remain cool for processing earlier in the day. Clusters are initially selected in the field, followed by a secondary sorting by hand at the winery. They are destemmed, and the grapes are mechanically sorted, assuring only the best berries go into each small fermentation lot. Fermentation is carried out in small, temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. After fermentation is complete, the wine undergoes barrel aging in our climate-controlled barrel rooms for 21 months before being bottled.
Food pairing: This perfectly balanced blend would pair well with a variety of dishes including a rich penne and braised pork ragu, roasted duck with blackberry and balsamic reduction sauce or a classic creamy mushroom stroganoff.
Winery Story:
Before Oakville became an appellation, before we made the first 100-point wine in Napa, our vineyard was born out of a family dream, the friendship of neighbors and a huge leap of faith.
“You want to grow great Cabernet Sauvignon?” Ren Harris asked us. “This is the place to do it.” Judy and I surveyed the old farm: Dilapidated dairy barns sagged behind rows of frost-bitten Napa Gamay vines bordering Oakville Cross Road. Back in 1981, just a handful of winegrowers in this part of Napa Valley understood what a magical place Oakville was for growing Cabernet Sauvignon. Ren, our excited Realtor, happened to be one of them. We looked again, a little more closely, at this 121-acre stretch of valley floor dotted with majestic oaks and edged by rolling hills. We wanted a piece of land where we could grow Cabernet Sauvignon we could be proud of, like the beautiful Bordeaux wines we loved. Could we envision it … here? Judy and I looked at each other, taking a deep breath before nodding back — yes, here.
In 1982, we purchased a second parcel, 44 acres in what is now the Oak Knoll District just south of Yountville. It was the perfect spot for growing Merlot and, as we later learned, Chardonnay. As CFO of the tech start-up Atari, my job had really taken off with their launch of the world’s first video console, and our dream to go all-in as family winegrowers became possible. After a year of selling our fruit to our neighbors, we decided to make a bit of Cabernet of our own. Nils Venge had been making wine at Villa Mt. Eden just next door for the past decade, so we asked him if he’d consider working with us.
Nils walked us back into our vineyard and pointed to a couple of western blocks along Conn Creek in a little grove of trees. “That’s the Sweet Spot,” he said. “That can make us world-class wine.” We entrusted him with making our very first vintage, and he was right. In 1982, the precursor to our Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon proved to be remarkable. The wine caught the attention of wine writer Jerry Mead, who even before he tasted it remarked, “God, a teetotaler should buy this wine just to smell it.”
