East of St. Helena, sitting atop the ridge lines above Lake Hennessey, overlooking Pritchard Hill is an American Grand Cru vineyard site broken into multiple small plots ranging from 850-1500ft in elevation. Here you'll find vines planted to precarious slopes that look as though they'd easily fall off the side of the mountain when battered by the winds and rain.
This is the Sage Ridge Vineyard, home to concentrated fruit, diverse, thin soil types, and a prolonged growing season optimizing phenolic ripeness making for exceptionally structured wines.
The 2021 Éleveur "Sage Ridge Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon was hand-harvested at night, inoculated with native local yeasts, and aged for 20 months in 100% French oak barrels. We commissioned the expertise of 100-point Winemaker Megan for this project (who is not unfamiliar to this vineyard site) so the wine is every bit as incredible as other Sage Ridge bottlings under other labels fetching mid-to-high 90 scores and starting around $125+/bottle.
We're offering the 2021 Éleveur "Sage Ridge Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon for $299/case, or under $25/bottle on this in-stock Tranche 1 offer. That's at least 80% OFF the entry price for this vineyard site from any other producer.
On the pour, the concentration is immediate, with an almost impenetrable core. Pretty botanicals and eucalyptus back dark fruits and violets wrapped in cedar and black currant with hints of blueberry, clay dust, and wet gravel. The palate shows an incredibly strong sense of place with dynamic dark fruits, new, soft leather, and baking spices framed by medium+ acidity and chewy, present, perfectly integrated tannins. The finish is defined by its excellent length, articulated by spice and fresh sliced vanilla bean carrying out over waves of crushed florals and black cherry umami. This brawny, rich gem is approachable today with a 24-hour decant, but will do well with further aging; optimum drinking window 2028-2038.
100% Sage Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 100% native local yeasts 100% French oak, 65% new barrels 20 months on oak 14.9% alc 300 cases handcrafted by Megan Baccitich for Éleveur de Négoce
