2018 Accendo Cellars Laurea

Accendo Cellars is a new winemaking enterprise from the Araujo family. Daphne and Bart Araujo made one of Napa’s top cult wines until 2013, when they sold their legendary Eisele Vineyard to the owners of Château Latour. Accendo, which in Latin means to inflame or to arouse, is run by the Daphne and Bart and their children Jamie and Greg. They have also reassembled their Araujo Estate winemaking team of Steve Matthiasson, Francoise Peschon and consultant Michel Rolland. Accendo uses grapes from its own vineyards and sources grapes from other top Napa growers. The idea is to make extraordinary Cabernet Sauvignon by blending grapes from various premium vineyards, a practice that harkens back to the historic California reds of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Accendo also produces Sauvignon Blanc. The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is the debut release.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,