2023 SEVEN APART SHALE™

CABERNET SAUVIGNON

Seven Apart Shale™ is an expression of our estate vineyard located high on Atlas Peak, seven miles up the road from the Seven Apart winery. We call the vineyard Stags Ridge, as it is perched above the rock outcroppings that give the famed Stags Leap area of Napa Valley its name. Like the rock formation after which it is named, Shale—the wine—is layered, fine-grained, and highly structured. While the fruit from this challenging, high elevation site always produces wine with great power and intensity, Shale is crafted to showcase the softer, more detailed side of the estate.

CELLARING & DECANTING

Once you are ready to savor the wine, we highly suggest decanting.

Decant young wines for 1 hour and add 1 hour of decanting for every 10 years of age. You can speed decanting wine by pouring the wine once or twice between two decanters (or between the decanter and the wine bottle with a funnel). If you don’t have a decanter, swirl your wine in the glass. The swirling increases the surface area of wine exposed to oxygen and aerates it just as decanting would.

TASTING NOTES

Visually, this wine is a deep, intense burgundy. On the nose, the wine greets you with bright aromas of ripe blackberries, black cherries, dried herbs, a hint of baking spices, chocolate, and a soft minerality. On the palate, the wine is well-balanced with a pleasant approach that slowly builds to a generous and focused mid-palate laden with dry soft tannins that lead to a lasting, luscious finish brimming with flavors of dried black plum, black cherry, hibiscus, and red currant.

WINEMAKER MORGAN MAURÈZE

2023  |  2022  |  2021  |  2019  |  2018