When you
hear a wine name like Alma de Cattleya you might rightly think of South America
– Columbia specifically in this case. You probably don’t think of Napa. Yet
this wine from talented winemaker Bibiana González Rave is all Napa but
reflects her Colombian heritage – Cattleya is a type of stunningly beautiful
orchid.
As a Napa
Cabernet this strides over a different path; less overt red fruit and more dark
black fruits like blueberry, black berry, mild tannins, a smokiness lingering
in the background, and a subtle if subversive acidity. It’s all Cabernet from
actually two different vineyard sites, though it’s all clone 337, which offers
reliable and reasonable yields of smallish berries, and has fruit-forward
flavors. 18 months of oak aging with a scant 10% of those barrels being new allows
the fruit to come though but this is neither a big hefty Napa Cabernet nor a wine
that celebrates new French oak. This is a confident, mid priced Cabernet
offering a lithe beauty, like the flower for which it is named. 303 cases.
ORIGIN: Napa Valley, California
ALCOHOL: 14.9%
PRICE: $48/ 750ML
SCORE: 91 POINTS
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