Tasting Notes: Complex, layered, and sophisticated. Powerful and elegant, blackberries, espresso, caramel, leather, French plums, and sweet black currants. This wine is ripe and chewy, big and round, with beautifully resolved tannins. Great balance and structure, like an entire meal in a glass, with a finish that goes on forever. A classic Ehlers Estate 1886 that will continue to improve for decades.

Vintage Notes: 2012 was a great vintage in the Napa Valley. Early spring rains gave us just the water we needed to get the vines growing, then the warm weather set in right on cue. All summer long we enjoyed warm days and cool nights that were so beautiful it was almost too good to be true! A long mellow season with enough heat to polish the grapes and develop the flavors, and no extreme weather events to compromise the valley-wide excellence. Every grape on the estate was picked at optimum ripeness.

Varietals: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot
Harvested: October 19 – October 26, 2012
Wine Analysis: 14.5% alcohol ● 3.7 pH
Aging: 100% French Oak, 70% New Primary Coopers: Nadalie, St. Martin, Baron, De Jarnac
Appellation: St Helena, Napa Valley
Bottling Date: July 22, 2014
Production:  20 cases

Awards and Accolades: 90 points Wine Advocate