2019 Memento Mori Las Piedras Cabernet Sauvignon

Memento Mori is a new winemaking venture started by three partners, all with backgrounds in high technology or finance. The partners are Hayes Drumwright, Adriel Lares and Adam Craun. Their winemaker is Sam Kaplan, one of Napa Valley’s rising winemaking stars. Memento Mori sources grapes from top Napa Valley vineyards, including Beckstoffer’s Dr. Crane and las Piedras Vineyards, and Weitz and Oakville Ranch Vineyards in Oakville. The estate makes a premium Cabernet Sauvignon at the rate of about 600 cases per year. It is generally available only through its mailing list, and it has impressed reviewers. Robert M. Parker Jr. awarded the 2013 vintage 97 pts and called it “brilliant.”

Las Piedras was first planted in the mid-19th century, and within a few years its grapes were being used to make wine by Henry Amstutz, one of the area’s first important winemakers. The 25-acre vineyard in St. Helena was acquired by Beckstoffer in 1983. Today it is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. Beckstoffer Vineyards owns and farms more than 3,600 acres of highly prestigious grape growing vineyards in Napa Valley, Mendocino County and the Red Hills of Lake County. A senior executive with Heublein in the 1960s, Andy Beckstoffer is credited with steering Napa Valley vintners towards improving farming and the quality of the grapes used for wine. Grapes from any Beckstoffer vineyards are considered among the finest available in California.

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.