2009 Hundred Acre The Ark Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Hundred Acre is owned by Jayson Woodbridge, a winemaker who has been defying conventional wisdom about winemaking for years. He started Hundred Acre winery in St. Helena, California, and the Hundred Acre winery in the Barossa Valley, Australia. He makes single-vineyard, highly limited wines in both places. In California Hundred Acre is a Cabernet Sauvignon released only to the winery’s s mailing list. Hundred Acre’s first California vintage in 2000 earned praise from reviewers, and more recent vintages have earned very high scores from Robert M. Parker Jr., among others. Hundred Acre’s signature wine from California is the Kayli Morgan Vineyard Cab. The signature AU wine is the single vineyard Ancient Way Shiraz. Woodbridge is also the entrepreneur behind the Cherry Pie and Layer Cake wine labels. Cherry Pie is a Pinot Noir from Carneros and Layer Cake is a value-priced portfolio of varietals.

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,

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.