2023 Trois Noix "Rancho Pequeño Vineyard" Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

Rancho Pequeño is the Araujo family's own estate vineyard on the prime east Oakville bench at the foot of the Vaca Mountains. This small vineyard just off Silverado Trail sits on an alluvial fan of volcanic rocks that have tumbled down from the neighboring mountainside. This small part of Napa is famed for producing some of the most highly prized Cabernet Sauvignon fruit in the entire region. As you might expect, Jaime produced this Cabernet in a very Old World-inspired style, favoring structure, savory varietal character, and complexity rather than chasing an overtly ripe, super-fruity style. In many ways, this is quite the opposite of what one might expect from east Oakville fruit, feeling perhaps more Coombsville-esque. The wine has brooding dark fruit with sage, mulberry, camphor, cedar, graphite, and iron. It's long and linear on the palate rather than thick and jamy, with savory cedar and leather emerging as well. The noble tannins here suggest a good decant if drinking young, allowing the wine some time to relax. There's a long life ahead here for sure. I think this will be a fascinating 10 - 15-year wine and probably a 20-year wine if cellared well.