2020 Dalla Valle & Ornellaia, DVO, Proprietary Red, Napa Valley, Bottle (750mL)

DR97 A collaboration project between Dalla Valle Vineyards of Napa Valley and Ornellaia of Tuscany. This is the third release, and despite the challenging vintage, winemaker Maya Dalla Valle and founder and proprietor Naoko Dalla Valle, along with winemaker Axel Heinz and CEO Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja of Ornellaia have produced one of the standout wines of the vintage. Effusive blackberry aromas are intermixed with graphite, cassis, liquorice, toasty cedar wood and tanned leather. This is a seamless wine with superb structure, freshness, and depth of character. Medium to full-bodied with rich dark cassis, loamy earth, elegant, fine-grained tannins, dusted wild herbs, brown spices, and a fabulously long mocha-tinged finish. It almost defies gravitydense and powerful, yet with a tremendous lightness of energy. Sold in 3-pack wooden boxes.

RP96+ Loaded with scents of blueberries, black cherries and cassis underpinned by a framework of cedary oak, DVO’s 2020 Red Wine is a 300-case blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot aged 23 months in 60% new French oak. Full-bodied without being overly high octane, it shows admirable suppleness and ripe tannins. A blend of fruit from Oakville and Coombsville, it’s almost creamy-rich in texture on the palate, then lingers elegantly on the lengthy finish. Nicely done!