2021 Seven Apart Shale
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Seven Apart Shale is an expression of our estate vineyard located high atop Atlas Peak, seven miles up the road from the Seven Apart winery. We call the vineyard Stags Ridge, as it is perched above the rock outcroppings that give the famed Stags Leap area of Napa Valley its name. Like the rock formation after which it is named, Shale—the wine—is layered, fine-grained, and highly structured. While the fruit from this challenging, high elevation site always produces wine with great power and intensity, Shale is crafted to showcase the softer, more detailed side of the estate.
The Journey
Harvested
October 6-19, 2021
Aged in Oak
24 months
Bottled
December 2023
Released
February 2024
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Stags Ridge Vineyard
9 barrels Produced
Tasting Notes
Winemaker Morgan Maureze
Visually, this wine is a deep, intense burgundy. On the nose, the wine greets you with bright aromas of ripe blackberries, black cherries, dried herbs, a hint of baking spices, chocolate, and a soft minerality. On the palate, the wine is well-balanced with a pleasant approach that slowly builds to a generous and focused mid-palate laden with dry soft tannins that lead to a lasting, luscious finish brimming with flavors of dried black plum, black cherry, hibiscus, and red currant.
Cellaring & Decanting
Approachable upon release for lovers of young wine. Cellaring 5-8 years will reward with a slightly developed bottle bouquet. This wine is built for longevity, easily aging 25+ years.
Once you are ready to savor the wine, we highly suggest decanting.
Decant young wines for 1 hour and add 1 hour of decanting for every 10 years of age. You can speed decanting wine by pouring the wine once or twice between two decanters (or between the decanter and the wine bottle with a funnel). If you don’t have a decanter, swirl your wine in the glass. The swirling increases the surface area of wine to oxygen and aerates it just as decanting would.
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