Nose

Fresh baked blueberry pie aromas and rich notes of cracked black pepper.

Palate

Fruit forward notes with vanilla bean, cacao and a hint of dried tobacco leaf. The wine finishes with integrated tannins that are soft and supple, accentuating the power and depth of this full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon.

Growing Conditions

The 2021 growing season was very typical through early spring with warm days and cool nights. Early summer through harvest gave us some unexpected heatwaves but plenty of marine breezes from the west and mild weather
prevailed late summer through early fall. The result was a slight delay of harvest while we waited for acidity, pH and brix to balance creating mature flavors.

Harvest

The vineyard blocks chosen for our reserve cabernet sauvignon come from four of our favorite districts: Estrella, where ancient riverbank soils and warm days produce fruit forward flavors. Geneseo, where ancient riverbed soils and cooling afternoon breezes create juicy acidity with smooth, elegant flavors. The Paso Robles Highlands, where high elevation mesas rich in ancient seabed soils combined with large diurnal temperatures create rich color and layered flavors. And, the Creston district, known for gravely soils and midday cooling breezes create ripe back fruits with bold structure.

Winemaking

The making of Austin Hope Reserve Cabernet begins with small lot fermentations separated by individual vineyard blocks which receive daily pump-overs for maximum extraction. These lots are constantly supervised, tasted & analyzed for tannin and anthocyanins in order to determine optimal length of extended maceration after
fermentation. Once drained and pressed, the young wines are barreled down into a combination of 25% once used and 75% neutral French Oak. In the Summer of 2022, these lots, already earmarked for the 2021 Austin Hope Cabernet Sauvignon, are tasted by the winemaking team to further select and remove individual barrels that display exceptional quality and character for the Reserve program. Once the initial blend was defined, the Reserve wine lots were blended together and aged for 17 months in 100% once used French Oak. The wine was racked a final time in Spring of 2024, just prior to being filtered and bottled.

Aging

29 Months