Dalla Valle, Maya - Napa Valley 2018

Dalla Valle, Maya - Napa Valley 2018

About the wine
Maya is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the estate vineyard Dalla Valle in the eastern hills of Oakville. The estate started producing this wine thirty vintages ago, when it became crystal clear that both of these varieties thrived in an unique terroir. Each year the team blend grapes from specific blocks in the vineyard to produce the most compelling wine possible from the vintage.

The vintage
As a growing season, 2018 was sensational. From the first cherries in the early spring, to the last apples and pears of the late summer, every fruit and vegetable was intense in flavor, and generous in yield. This always bodes well for the wines from the season. The grapes from the estate vineyard in Oakville developed beautifully all season long, with a slow, steady build in color and aromatics, and a uniform maturing of tannins in the end. The result is a lineup
of wines that is distinctive, dense, and highly polished. The rounded edges make the wines accessible in their youth, but the real payoff will come with bottle age, given the massive structure and concentration

Tasting Note
The profile of the wine is buttoned-up but complex, showing notes of Bing cherry, clove, pencil lead and gravel, in addition to hints of bay leaf and vanilla. The list of descriptors continues to grow with time in the glass, and the intensity on the palate makes it clear that this will go down as one of the vintages of the decade.