BEHIND THE BOTTLE #2 | SEVEN
APART SHALE™ CABERNET
SAUVIGNON
“Award-winning Napa Valley winemaker Andy Erickson takes you Behind the Bottle to introduce Seven Apart Shale™ Cabernet Sauvignon. The latest Seven Apart Shale™ vintage 2018 is now available on allocation only.”
Millions of years ago, Mount Saint Helena erupted spewing lava and ash across what today is called Napa Valley. Since then, much of the land has been cultivated, but certain hard-to-reach areas remained covered in volcanic rock. In 1999, one brave vintner decided to excavate Atlas Peak, approximately 1,475ft above the valley floor. The volcanic rocks were the size of small cars, but determination paid off, and the land was finally cleared and planted with grapevines. The vineyard was named Stags Ridge and quickly flourished.
Seven Apart proprietor Don Dady is a long-time lover of world-class Cabernet Sauvignon. His passion eventually led him to Atlas Peak in Napa. In 2018 he purchased Stags Ridge Vineyard. He got to work and assembled a team including acclaimed winemaker Andy Erickson.
Under Andy’s stewardship, four distinct Seven Apart Cabernet Sauvignon wines have come to fruition: Seven Apart Expedition™, Seven Apart Shale™, Seven Apart Basalt™, and Seven Apart Summit™. In the second of our four-part journal series, Andy goes behind the bottle of each wine to share the full story. Whether you’re new to Seven Apart or a devoted aficionado, here’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Seven Apart Shale™.
BEHIND THE NAME
Shale [noun]
Meaning: ‘A soft finely stratified sedimentary rock formed from consolidated mud or clay and can be split easily into fragile plates.’
Seven Apart Shale™ takes its name straight from the fine-grained, laminated soil and rock in Stags Ridge vineyard. As the name suggests, “Shale” represents the finer, more detailed side of Seven Apart winemaking.
“Seven Apart Shale™ is beautifully layered,” opens Andy. “It is simultaneously hard, yet also easily pliable rock. This dichotomy of texture is really what we want the namesake wine to capture. It’s layered, but in a soft, gentle way that means you can dig into it easily.”
BEHIND THE VINES
At 1,400 feet up in the air, the Stags Ridge vines grow above the fog line, meaning the vineyard gets generous sun exposure. It also faces the Pritchard Gap, an opening to San Francisco Bay. Like clockwork, every afternoon around 3pm, a breeze blows in on the San Francisco Bay to cool down the vineyard. This breeze also helps balance the sugar levels and acidity of the grapes. While all these elements factor into creating prime Cabernet Sauvignon terroir, the secret ingredient is the soil.
“The soil is more like a cobblestone street. There are giant rocks scattered throughout—some so large that we couldn’t install trellising into the ground!” shares Andy. According to him, the soil contributes big, round tannins and concentration to the Seven Apart Shale™ wine.
Seven Apart produces three other Cabernet Sauvignons from the Stags Ridge vineyard – Seven Apart Shale™, Seven Apart Basalt™, and Seven Apart Summit™. Same vineyard, same variety. That means that the true art of winemaking is determined by the style selected by the winemakers and created during the blending process.
“While it may seem odd to craft three Cabernet Sauvignons from the same vineyard, that’s also the challenge for me. Even within one vineyard, you might have one section that gives you one unique element and another section that gives you something completely different. I view it as my mission to create unique expressions of our dramatic vineyard site on Atlas Peak,” says Andy.
JOIN OUR ALLOCATION
With only 9 barrels crafted, the 2018 Seven Apart Shale™ Cabernet Sauvignon is now available exclusively by allocation. Join us on this journey as we climb the mountain, push ourselves to the limits, and craft exceptional Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Sign up here if you’re ready to become a member of our allocation list and savor Napa at its peak.