Robert Craig Cabernet Sauvignon 'Spring Mountain District' (2022)

“Terroir” is the much-overused, and just as frequently misunderstood, French term for a sense of place in wine; the vineyard site in concert with human intention and management of that site that establishes a wine’s unique identity. It is the perfect concept to describe the qualities of our Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon from Joan Crowley’s small vineyard. At 2000’ along the summit of Spring Mountain, the Crowley Vineyard property requires patience and attention to detail in management in order to produce world class Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep color and the intense perfume of dark mountain flowers are the signature of this wine each year, and we are fortunate to obtain a tiny amount of this exquisite fruit to create a wine with great weight, structure and velvety texture. This release is defined by tiny berries and an intense expression of the rocky Spring Mountain soils in 2022. A cool site even in hot years, Joan Crowley’s small block produced fruit of terrific freshness and vitality in a year marked by variable weather.

On the Crowley Vineyard, dry farming in conjunction with a cold spring and a summer marked with heat spikes, produced incredibly small, intense berries with deep color and high tannin count. The tannins are round and ripe, providing a beautiful framework for flavors of deep cassis, menthol, blueberry, iron and forest floor. A textbook example of Spring Mountain’s signature blue notes, with the elegance that is a hallmark of this extraordinary vineyard.