2019 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine notes

It’s the style in Napa Valley to pick super-ripe, but we prefer to harvest a bit earlier to capture some of the fruit’s bitter tannin and bright acidity. We keep the winemaking incredibly simple: Sample the fruit, measure the brix, and harvest directly into the bins without sorting.

Then we let fermentation progress naturally, with native yeasts, in open-top tanks. We allow the cap to form and perform a combination of punchdowns and pumpovers—depending on the day—with an extended 30-day maceration before the wine ages 16 months in oak.

This is a big, rich cashmere blanket of a wine. Dark blue fruits, leather, and spice resonate on the full palate. We like to sip it at the end of the night, sometimes with a bit of dark chocolate. It’s also perfection when paired with a grilled porterhouse steak.

Vineyard notes

Jason takes our kids with him when he visits Star Vineyard in Rutherford, the source for this wine. It’s a no-nonsense working farm just a five-minute drive from our home, just off Rutherford Road behind Rutherford Grill, far enough off Highway 29 that it feels like an escape. Hibou farms two precious blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon planted in loam soil; one is Martha’s Vineyard clone, the other Clone 7.