2018 Letterhead
Cabernet Sauvignon
Single Vineyard
Calistoga, Napa Valley
Our inaugural Letterhead release offers a true expression of a singular place and variety—Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. Our 2018 release source is a world-class vineyard in Calistoga at the base of Diamond Mountain, a location with a storied past and proximity to some of Napa Valley’s most legendary producers. It’s a unique slice of land, where the Mayacamas and Vaca Mountains practically touch in the narrowest part of the Valley.
Vines here are rooted in gravelly loam soils, rich in volcanic deposits interspersed with the well-draining alluvial fans of ancient riverbeds. Here, the grapes capture a unique snapshot of Napa terroir—combining rich flavors and structural opulence for a wine to enjoy now or in 35 years.
From the Founders:
Harvesting From Dawn Till Dusk.
On a warm October night in 2018, after a picture-perfect growing season, we found ourselves walking rows of old vines near the base of Diamond Mountain in Calistoga, bathed in floodlights. The juice from each small berry we picked was warm, fleshy, and packed with complex flavor and excellent structure. It was time to pick.
Our winemaker was with us; she handed me a pair of razor-sharp shears and asked if I wanted to pick the first bunch of grapes.
With my left hand clasping a perfectly-ripe bunch of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, my right hand holding the shears made a swift movement, I’d released the first cluster from its mother vine, but also almost my wrist from my arm. It went on like that through the night until the evening bled into dawn. By the time we harvested the last bunch, we had to fight off the urge to head home and sleep because the real work began.
It was 6:00 a.m. when the first grapes came bobbing down the sorting table at the winery in Carneros. A few hours later, having sorted away leaves and bruised fruit, all that was left was a stainless steel tank brimming with perfect glistening purple berries ready for a three-day cold soak.
This is just the beginning of our and Letterhead’s journey here in the Valley.
Your much obliged and affectionate friend,
Andrew
From Grapes to Wine.
The wine remained in stainless steel for the first 30 days after being picked, where initially it was fermented with Williams-Selyem yeasts. Our winemaker chose this strain because it’s robust and powerful, and, as she says, “ushers the fermentation to complete dryness without losing the natural elegance and fruit purity of the site.”
Once fermentation was complete, we began pump-overs three times daily during an extended maceration that lasted ten days. The free-run juice was pressed off directly into French oak barrels about a week later, while the pressed juice was barrel-aged separately (only the free-run went into Letterhead). We have a mix of high-quality ICÔNE barrels from Seguin Moreau, along with Treuil French oak. After aging 18 months, the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered, and allowed to rest another few months prior to our release.
It was an incredible waiting game, but the wait is finally over.
With gratitude, and the anticipation of your enjoyment,
Rachel
Our Winemaker.
It's been such a joy to work with someone who is entirely hands-on and who is always very patient with our barrage of winemaking questions. She’s made it fun, and every element of our relationship speaks to the level of purpose and engagement we bring to the project.
We wish we could write her name on the page, but the fact is, she’s spoken for by one of Napa’s truly iconic wineries whose wines have been described as “drop-dead gorgeous,” by none other than the venerable Robert Parker. Although she was allowed to craft our wine, the one caveat is we can’t disclose her name. We can only offer up a few facts. She was the oenologist for a legendary Stags Leap District winery that has earned more than a few 100-point scores. Later, she enjoyed a lengthy stay working in Sonoma for a remarkable winery owned by a family that has built one of the most impressive wine clubs with a miles-long waitlist.
In the thick of harvest in 2018, we received an email from her. The grapes we’d been searching for were suddenly on the table. “I know this vineyard like the back of my hand, and I’ve always dreamt of making a single-vineyard bottle from just that site—there’s something special about it. It’s an incredible opportunity I never had access to before. I think we should jump on it!” she wrote. We trusted her entirely.
The Cabernet in question was growing in a block within an iconic single vineyard site adjacent to Twomey Cellars (owned by the Duncan Family of Silver Oak fame). The day we visited the vineyard, we left with a contract. We had found the grapes for our first Letterhead wine. It happened fast, and not two days later, we were donning headgear with lights, harvesting under a warm, moonless night sky. 2018 was the perfect year to get started, not only because the grapes’ quality from that particular season is so high, but because it was an abundant harvest, and the cup of Napa’s prime sites did “spilleth over”—directly into our hands.
With sincere appreciation, and a glass half full and raised high,
Rachel & Andrew