2019 001 Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon Ecotone Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 95.9 points

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  4/7/2024 - Rbhan12 Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Tasted with Jack over some pre-dinner nibbles. Made by Graeme MacDonald from Ecotone vineyard (former Abreu thorevilos).
  
  Just my opinion, but this wine will shine in 15-20 years. Right now it showed powerful fruit with profound structure and a notable savory earthen character. I would not say it straddles the line between new and old world—rather, it distinctly shows some new world qualities side by side old world qualities. Like one foot on each side of the door.
  
  Wait 5 years on this one. It is a pretty unique wine that shows differently from majority of Napa wines I’ve tried.

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  3/22/2024 - pwarms wrote:

  SOURCE: Ecotone Vineyard, Napa Valley
  
  VARIETAL COMPOSITION: 83.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13.5% Cabernet Franc & 2.7% Petit Verdot
  
  AGING: 20 months in French oak barrels, 85% of which were new
  
  BOTTLING DATE: June 30th, 2021
  
  ALCOHOL LEVEL: 14.6%
  
  PRODUCTION: 307 cases
  
  ”Dark ruby color with vivid notes of blueberries, dried herbs, green olive, bittersweet chocolate and hints of tobacco and graphite. The wine is medium-full bodied, expressing savory fruit and graphite that wrap around a fresh mouthwatering finish, with classic precision and structure.”
  
  - Winemaker, Graeme MacDonald

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  2/4/2024 - #1Winelover Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Had a great lunch with Jack Bittner and agelvis at Cook (great local restaurant in Napa).
  
  Very well built from the former Abreu Thorevilos site (not to be confused with Abreu's new Thorevilos site.) Now called Ecotone. Ecotone is in no man's land; above St. Helena but not in the Howell Mountain AVA. Jack sells fruit to some of the higher end producers (Kinsman Eades, Vice Versa, etc), and make his own juice, 001.
  
  This is a big wine and has a very long life ahead. It was tight at lunch even though Jack double decanted it for hours. It got better in the glass and my final sips were the best. Dark red and black in the glass, still a little primary and built like a brick s**t house. Slight mineral notes, bakers chocolate, nice acidity with a long finish. Stylistically similar to Macdonald which makes sense since they share the same winemaker Graeme Macdonald
  
  My score is a placeholder as this is very well built and will improve with time. Should end up being 97"ish" but right now, it was drinking 95 points.

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  1/31/2024 - AGELVIS Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Splash double decant, followed by a 12-hour decant. Very deep dark ruby color. Blackberry, cassis, anise, baker’s chocolate, and nutmeg meringue. Super smooth, dry palate, with prominent baker’s chocolate and dusty acidity. Grippy tannins on the long finish.
  
  It was a pleasure tasting this unreleased gem with one of the owners (Jack Bittner) and #1WineLover at Cook in St Helena. Graeme MacDonald is the winemaker. This is mostly CS, with a bit of CF and PV. Ecotone is the former Abreu Thorevilos site. 307 cases made.

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  8/25/2023 - Geaux Tigers Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Napa 2023 - The Sequel; 8/23/2023-8/28/2023: Lunch with Jack Bittner at Farmstead. Graeme MacDonald’s wine making style on display. Elegant and dare I say restrained in the context of big Napa wines (a good thing in this case). Black raspberry, red raspberry, hint of cola, no showy oak apart from a hint of melted chocolate, nice tannic structure at this stage that really framed the wine. Not a hard edge anywhere even this early. Can’t wait to see what this is like after they really dial in the winemaking. 94 as is, room up to high 90s with more age.

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