2021 ARIETTA QUARTET NAPA VALLEY RED Powerhouse Napa Valley Winery, Arietta, specializes in Bordeaux-style blends from carefully chosen cooler-climate vineyards. In 2005, the winery enlisted Andy Erickson as their winemaker to further the quality of their wines. Andy is known for his expertise in producing some of Napa Valley’s finest wines, including Screaming Eagle, Staglin, Mayacamas, and Harlan Estate. The 2021 vintage ushered in a temperate growing season with stable weather that allowed the grapes to ripen to perfection with fully developed flavors and tannins. Arietta’s wines are known for their finesse, balance, and prototypical Napa style, celebrated by wine lovers worldwide, and this flagship Quartet red blend continues that legacy. "The 2021 Quartet wonderfully captures the vibrancy and depth of the 2021 vintage, a year of very little rainfall and warm California summer days. The wine is a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, and it exhibits the full range of aromas and flavors that the blend implies. The Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced from the cooler climes of Napa Valley, drives the profile of the wine, with dark, savory tones of graphite, sage, mocha, and mint underpinning a core of black and red fruits. The Cabernet Franc provides the perfect level of spice and aromatic interest, showing notes of lavender, cardomom, and subtle fennel seed. Merlot adds a juicy blue-fruited element, and a small dose of Petit Verdot grounds the wine with earth tones and a hint of wood extract. As with most vintages of Quartet, the wine overdelivers, while presenting a balanced and generous interpretation of Napa Valley. Twenty months of barrel aging, and bottling without fining or filtration, help preserve the nuance and fruit expression of the wine. Less than a quarter of the French oak barrels used for aging were new, so the fruit character really does shine, while there is ample structure to let the wine age for easily 15+ years to come. It will only gain in interest and hedonistic potential."