100pts Jeb Dunnuck

The flagship 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon was tasted out of bottle, and it might be the best yet. Deeply hued, it has an incredible array of black and blue fruits as well as leafy herbs, bouquet garni, graphite, and spicy oak that builds with time in the glass. Rich and full-bodied, it has a great mid-palate and incredible tannins.

99pts Decanter

Bart and Daphne Aurajo established Accendo Cellars after selling their Araujo Estate (now Eisele Vineyard) to the Artemis Group. In 2021, they passed the torch to second-generation partners Jaime and Greg Araujo. Grapes are sourced from Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville, Sleeping Lady Vineyard in Yountville, Eco Tone (a former Abreu property) above the Meadowood estate, and a site on Diamond Mountain formerly known as Reverie. Winemaker Nigel Kinsman says the idea is to express Napa Valley Cabernet through the lens of exceptional vineyard sites. It also allows him to experiment with other varieties to combine a seamless wine year to year. Agee 22 months in roughly 70% new French oak. A solid wine showing the dynamic structure of a vintage that produced smaller yields, deep concentration, and powerful tannins, which Kinsman has refined in this bottling, as they are intricate, linear, super-fine, and seamless. Pure red berry fruit tones leap from the glass, nuanced by sagebrush, earth, and dried spring flowers. Medium to full-bodied with compact black cherry, blackberry, and plum fruits laced with brown baking spices and a long, mineral-infused finish redolent of graphite and wet slate. An exceptional showing, balancing the intensity of the vintage with noticeable freshness. Best from 2025.

98pts James Suckling

A focused, powerful yet polished Bordeaux-style blend that offers great depth of fruit, strong oak spices and a big mouthfeel. Made from 76% cabernet sauvignon, 22% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot. The palate shows cocoa, graphite, iron, orange zest and deep blueberries. Two-thirds Oakville fruit. Aged in 65% new French oak for 21 months. Drinkable now, but best from 2030.

98pts Vinous

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine of total and exquisite finesse. Silky tannins wrap around a core of red/purplish fruit, mocha, spice, new leather and rose petals. The 2021 has the highest amount ever of Cabernet Franc (22%), and that really comes through in the wine's aromatic and flavor profile. By far the most elegant and understated wine yet from Accendo, I can't wait to see how the 2021 ages. It appears to have a brilliant future.

Tasting Notes

Initially showcasing dark, brooding aromas of anise, freshly slivered fennel and baking spices that, as the wine evolves in glass, blossom into sweet fruit aromatics of ripe blackberries and mulberries with profoundly savory and mineral driven characters. On the palate, you’ll discover fabulous density balanced with the energy and freshness of delicately supportive, super fine tannins. It’s an elegant yet powerful wine, all the while being completely harmonious.

About the Wine

Accendo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon is an uber blend utilizing impeccable fruit from superior vineyard sites, fashioned in a winemaking style that emphasizes elegance, balance, freshness and finesse. It is a quintessential expression of Napa Valley
terroir.

Vineyard Notes

Our core Cabernet vineyards are located in the “Gold Coast” of the western bench of Oakville and Yountville, viewed by most locals as the location of Napa Valley’s finest
sites for growing world-class Cabernet Sauvignon: Vine Hill Ranch, M-Bar Ranch, Sleeping Lady. These core vineyards are complemented and complexed by unique and lile-known treasures: Ecotone, Terravina at Upper Range, Diamond Mountain. At Accendo Cellars, we work with owners and growers who sustainably farm their land and believe, as we do, that great wines are made in the vineyard. The vineyards we source today are a testament to that belief, and share some common characteristics:
• Unique terroir, with signature characteristics, found only at that site
• Consistency of the fruit every year
• Ability to produce high quality in challenging vintages.

Blend: 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot