2011 Caravina Cabernet 750
RATINGS
Antonio Galloni, Vinous (Nov. 2013) - 91 points
"Savory herbs, tar, licorice, ash, dark raspberries and wild flowers all emerge from Seavey's 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Caravina. The 2011 is just a touch compact, but it nevertheless has plenty of energy. An intense, powerful wine, the 2011 needs another few years in bottle for the tannins to soften. There is no shortage of personality here."
VINEYARD NOTES
Seavey's 13th vintage of estate-produced Caravina Cabernet, the 2011, was made from grapes sourced from a unique tapestry of steep hillside blocks from the vineyard. The selected blocks were notable for their intense and youthful fruit with supple tannins. The 2011 vintage was challenging as it was marked by wet and cool weather that began in the winter and continued through mid-June, and then picked up again in mid-October. Our steep hillsides allowed us extended hang time and we harvested into early November, carefully handpicking our hillside blocks in sequential rolling harvests starting at the top and working down. Multiple small lots resulted that were then separately vinified and aged.
PRODUCTION NOTES
Winemaking followed classic Bordeaux methods with whole-berry fermentation. In the cool of the early morning harvest, grapes were promptly destemmed and the berries were gently transferred into fermentation tanks. In order to carefully manage the tannins and resultant wine texture, our grapes are neither crushed nor run through a pump. Following fermentation, the wine was aged in French oak barrels (50% new) for 19 months before bottling in May 2013.
100% ESTATE GROWN, PRODUCED & BOTTLED, NAPA VALLEY AVA