Sum, Red Wine, Howell Mountain 2006

In some towns, hard working parents stay up late baking cupcakes for their children’s school fundraisers. In Napa Valley, sometimes those parents and friends of parents are Dave Abreu and Mark Aubert, and they make an out of this world, untouchable wine for the kids. (Well, not FOR the kids…) It’s like Steven Spielberg directing the school play – you just can’t believe that these masters of their craft are sharing their gifts in this way.
For this wine, commissioned by a small local school, winemaker Mark Aubert was allocated 4 separate blocks of David Abreu’s Lucia Abreu Vineyard. This site on Howell Mountain is a jewel in the Abreu portfolio of vineyards. Mark added 45% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Franc and 28% Cabernet Sauvignon – the resulting “Sum” is extraordinary wine. The Sum blend had an average vatting time of nearly 40 days and then was carefully aged in new 100 percent new Taransaud and Sylvain oak barrels for 18 months. They envisioned a final blend representing a sort of a Howell Mountain “right bank blend.” Bottled with minimal intervention, this red blend will age gracefully for at least two decades. However, you can also drink this near term as well, just decant for a period of 4-8 hours for a more soft tannin profile. We love the perfumed aromatics of black licorice, chocolate, cedar box and plum sauce.
1 barrel produced, of which 15 cases were made available to Acme.