Arietta Napa Valley Cabernet Franc/Merlot H Block Hudson Vineyard 2018

From the producer: Crafted from Cabernet Franc vines planted on a volcanic outcropping in 1986, and adjacent Merlot planted in the same year in clay-loam, the “H Block” has always been regarded as Arietta’s signature wine, paying great respect to the wines we love from the Right Bank of Bordeaux. The 2018 vintage is 56% Cabernet Franc and 44% Merlot, and would certainly stand with the best of the twenty-one previous vintages. Effusively aromatic, the wine is packed with notes of red raspberry, nutmeg, cumin, licorice, and slow-toasted oak. It is both energetic and rich, with the ripe fruit flavors flowing across the palate and pulling the complex spice notes with it. Aged for twenty months in 100% new French oak barrels and bottled without fining or filtration, the wine is deep and delicious, with the structure and weight that will allow it to age for decades.