DVO - Napa Valley Red 2018

Price: $400.00

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Producer	DVO
Country	United States
Region	Napa Valley
Varietal	Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage	2018
Sku	12015066
Size	750ml

 

WA

98

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon (containing a splash of Cabernet Franc) is a brand-new wine, representing a collaboration between Dalla Valle in Napa Valley and Ornellaia Estate in Tuscany (hence DVO). Deep garnet-purple colored, it is intensely scented of baked plums, boysenberries and Black Forest cake with an emerging perfume of potpourri, Indian spices and forest floor. The full-bodied palate is opulently fruited and plushly textured, delivering bags of floral and spicy nuances with a long, mineral and earth-tinged finish. Draped in flamboyant drama, this is a very different, very exciting new face of Napa Valley! 400 cases were made.DVO is a new joint venture between Dalla Valle and Ornellaia. The fruit for this new wine comes from various sources around Napa Valley, including cooler areas such as Coombsville and Mt. Veeder as well as Oakville. “It is about finding a more restrained take on Napa without being too simplistic about 'Old World finesse with New World personality,'” Ornellaia’s winemaker Axel Heitz told me over a Zoom call.
There is a sense of friendship inherent in the wine. Maya Dalla Valle worked at Ornellaia in 2013. When she did her master’s degree in Bordeaux, Axel was the advisor for her thesis. “There is a common view between us about great wine,” Maya said. “We look out for less obvious sites around Napa Valley. We didn’t want a predictable formula. We wanted to include the coolness of high elevation, while still making a wine that speaks of Napa Valley.”
“There is a close link to Italy with Maya with her father,” said Axel, “but also what we share as an Italian producer is trying to reflect sunny, warm climate—to try and bring out complexity and finesse. To combine the ripeness and opulence of wines born of the sun. In the great vineyard sites, you can have richness, opulence AND finesse.”
DVO is Cabernet Sauvignon dominant with a little Cabernet Franc, “to add freshness to the wine,” according to Maya.
Axel was able to visit Napa during the 2018 harvest. During the winemaking, they exchanged on a daily basis. “We sat together to do the blends and make aging decisions,” he commented.