Anakota 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, Helena Dakota, Knights Valley

Back in the late 1990s, the Jackson Family team started exploring new locations to grow Grand Cru-level Cabernet Sauvignon. Their goal was to find a site that could deliver the opulence and concentration of Napa coupled with the acidity, precision and age-worthiness of Sonoma. They found the perfect site in the Knights Valley AVA, a little-known wine region that earned AVA status in 1983. They named the ranch Anakota and in 1997 began surveying the terrain, analyzing the soils and planting vines.

Today, under the direction of Vigneron Pierre Seillan, they produce small quantities of single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons from two hillside estate vineyards: Helena Dakota and Helena Montana. Over his half-century of winemaking, Pierre has developed and refined his proprietary “micro-cru” farming/winemaking principles. Based on experience, observation, experimentation and intuition, this system considers that every vineyard is an intricate patchwork of soils, microclimates, exposures and elevations. Rather than treat each site as a single entity, Pierre divides each property into small blocks and sub-blocks. These vineyards-within-vineyards – often as small as one acre – are designed to mirror the subtle changes in the soils, terrain and microclimates. These micro-crus are farmed individually to ensure uniformly ripe grapes that bear the message of the soil. Each micro-cru is harvested and vinified separately. Two wines vinified from identical clones and rootstocks, but originating in radically different micro-crus, will produce radically different wines.

The Helena Dakota Vineyard is a sloping, 12-acre vineyard that runs southeast to northwest at roughly 750 feet above sea level. It features soft, reddish brown, gravelly, silt loam soils speckled with rocks. Prevailing westerly winds blow over a large pond and continue uphill parallel to the rows of vines. These cooling breezes slow the ripening process creating wines that are both powerful and balanced with red fruit flavors, notable minerality and graceful tannins. Pierre says the Cabernet from Helena Dakota remind him of Pauillac or Saint-Estèphe.

This 2017 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. To preserve the natural acidity in the grapes, picking began early on September 12th in the Dakota vineyard. The wines were resting in barrel prior to the Sonoma County Tubbs fire in October, therefore remained unaffected by any smoke taint. The wine aged for 13 months in 70% new French oak barrels.

James Suckling scored this 97 points saying "This is stunning on the nose with crushed cassis, like creme de cassis, and violets. So beautiful to smell. Medium to full body. Compact, refined tannins flow across the palate to the borders of the wine. All about balance, freshness and purity. One of the best ever. Drink or hold."

The Wine Advocate scored this 96 points saying "The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard, bottled six months ago, is very deep purple-black in color. Red roses waft sensuously, provocatively out of the glass, taking center stage until the notes of kirsch, blackberries and black raspberries come through, followed by Ceylon tea and forest floor. The palate is medium-bodied, very freshly perfumed and drop-dead gorgeous in the mouth, with a firm, grainy frame and long, mineral-laced finish."