2021 East Hill Cabernet Sauvignon

Beginning with the 2020 vintage, David Kent convinced Darcie that the family shouldn’t just make a single “Clone 30” Cabernet Sauvignon from the fruit grown on Lone Hill. The slope's west and eastern sides are sufficiently different from each other, and thus merit their own bottling. This is a difference you can see with your own eyes at harvest time, when the leaves of one side tend to yellow before the other. The soils are slightly different as well. While West Hill tends to make wines that are “spicy,” and higher in pyrazines, East Hill regularly clocks out with higher sugar levels, which means more body and higher alcohol levels. The East Hill is the “bold” side, making heavy-hitting Cabernet Sauvignons designed for cellaring, with notes of eucalyptus and mint. This is the collector’s cab!  

The 2021 vintage has already won gold at the Alameda County Fair, with more awards and scores expected to come through this winter. Aromatically, this wine is very charismatic. Notes of blackberry intermix with spicy tamarind and dark chocolate ganache. Sagebrush, a note that comes straight from the vineyard undergrowth, here appears with a more ephemeral touch of lilac and silver mint. On the palate, this wine has a neat structure of equal parts high acidity, piquant tannins and velvety body. Tamarind paste, Damson plum, and baked blackberry are joined by a savory meatiness that lingers through the finish.