94

AURIELLE

Cabernet Sauvignon

 Napa Valley 2008

$90.00

Rich and complex, deep and boasting plenty of still youthful yet outgoing curranty fruit, this wine is about as close to classic as a wine of its size and expressiveness is likely to get. Its keen focus on varietal character is matched by the supportive, wonderfully complementary oak in its makeup, and if a wine of size, it is also a wine of great sophistication. That it comes with a fairly evident wash of latter palate tannins is neither a surprise nor a problem because the wine's depth is matched to its lean underlying sense of balance. A decade or more of growth would seem to be in the offing with this one.

Reviewed: April 2012

Aurielle To Be Featured At Hugh's Culinary April 26th

Introducing the 2008 Aurielle Cabernet Sauvignon

Precious gifts

Last week I received a very special order. It was attached to the following e-mail:

We would like to purchase 2 bottles please.

We named our daughter who was born on Sept 9, Aurielle.  We read really good
reviews about your wine and would like to purchase a few bottles every year,
so we can keep it and enjoy them with her when she grows up.

Thanks,
Hendry & Melanie

Congratulations Mom and Dad. She's beautiful!

Aurielle Press: More great Press for Aurielle and winemaker Chad A...

Aurielle Press: More great Press for Aurielle and winemaker Chad A...: From Wine Access: "Chad Alexander is best known for his brainchild brand called "Chad". But here in Napa Valley, Alexander's reputation i...

More great Press for Aurielle and winemaker Chad Alexander

From Wine Access:


"Chad Alexander is best known for his brainchild brand called "Chad". But here in Napa Valley, Alexander's reputation is tied to his singular touch with mountain Cabernet. Alexander is the winemaking prodigy who became head winemaker up at Robert Craig while still wet behind the ears. His work up on Mt. Veeder and Howell Mountain set the stage for Alexander to set up his own boutique consultancy. It didn't take long for Robert Parker to take note, as the Wine Advocate raved about Alexander's 2007 "Aurielle", a Howell Mountain gem that earned 93 points."


For those of you who haven't tried Aurielle, you are in for a treat when you do.
Parker raved about it's "exuberance, opulence and pure fruit" and called it "A new discovery".
There were only 300 cases made and there are less than 20 cases still left. While drinkable now, the 2007 Aurielle will cellar for the next 10 or 15 years. To get yours before it's all gone, sign up on the mailing list at www.auriellevineyards.com 

#Cabernet Day September 1st

We're excited to be participating in the second annual #Cabernet Day on September 1, 2011.
If you are not familiar with #Cabernet Day, it's a social media wine tasting event where wine lovers around the world celebrate Cabernet Sauvignon and share a virtual tasting in coordination with live pourings in all of the great Cabernet growing regions around the world!

We will be sharing our 2007 Aurielle Cabernet, the wine Robert Parket gave 93 points and called "Exuberant and Opulent; A new discovery".

Want to know what it takes to make a 93 point Cabernet? Read on.....

As harvest approached, careful scientific analysis of both sugar and acid levels were conducted almost daily. The final picking decision however, was decided strictly by flavor profile as determined by the educated palettes and collective experience of the winegrowers and Aurielle’s winemaker, Chad Alexander.

Harvest was conducted in the cool morning hours and the grapes were rushed to the winery for crushing and de-stemming. The must was then chilled to 55 degrees and the wine was left to cold soak for 1 week before a gradual rise in temperature enabled the natural yeast to begin fermentation. Twice daily punch-downs were conducted in small open –top fermentors. After fermentation to dryness was completed, the wine went through an additional 3 week extended maceration process to extract maximum color and tannins that perfectly match the intense flavors of the mountain grown fruit.

A state of the art bladder press was used to extract the wine from the must and only free-run juices were kept. The wine was aged following a complex barrel program designed to create a unique and distinctive flavor and aroma profile of exceptional complexity. French oak was used exclusively with 80 percent of barrels being new and 20 percent being used once. Four different premium coopers were represented and 20% of the barrels were specifically sourced from The Limousin forrest in France to provide a top-note of vanilla and caramel tones.. The wine from both the Howell Mountain and Mount Veeder vineyard sights was aged in separate lots for 12 months during which time careful racking was conducted as necessary to clarify the wine. After 12 months, the lots were blended and extremely small amounts of Petit Verdot (1%), Merlot (.5%) and Cabernet Franc (1%) from Mount Veeder were added to increase complexity. After blending, the wine went trough an additional 6 months of barrel aging and racking as required, before being bottled un-fined and unfiltered after a total of 18 months in Oak. An additional 12 months of bottle aging commenced before release in the September of 2010.