This Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from Drew Tallent's Vineyard north of Mason in the Hill Country AVA. Drew's vineyard is blessed with the Hickory Sandstone soils typical of this area, with some loam mixed into the sand over a deeper layer of clay, providing great drainage and water storage at the same time. The relatively dry, cool climate and these soils make it an ideal spot for growing grapes, so when Drew offered us Cabernet from vines, he was planting back in 2014, we jumped at the opportunity. 

The first crops were used to blend with Tempranillo wines, but in 2019 we decided to start bottling some of the Cabernet without blending. 2019 was a relatively cool year, starting with ample soil moisture from tons of rain in the preceding El Niño winter.  A wet spring yielded to a relatively mild summer, with the heat cranking up late in August and especially September, which was the hottest September in Texas history. This is typical of this area, Drew always said "there were only about two weeks of the whole summer where not having air conditioning was a problem." Fortunately, due to the winter and spring rains, the vines had ample canopies to shade and ripen the fruit through the intense heat of late summer, and we harvested the grapes right in time. 

Machine harvested at 4am and then destemmed the grapes into tank for fermentation. After a few days, fermentation from the ambient yeast in the vineyard and our winery got going. Several weeks of punchdowns later, fermentation finally finished, and the grapes were pressed into tank for settling. After settling briefly, the wine was transferred to neutral French oak barrels for aging. 16 months later we racked the wine off the sediment, lightly filtered and bottled it June 21st, 2021. Given about a year in bottle, this little beauty has really started to open up.  Like many of the 2019's, this wine has soft tannins and good freshness with moderate alcohol and ripeness. More of a Cab Franc-drinkers' Cabernet, this wine will pair well with lamb chops or a nice strip steak.  - 179 cases produced