2008 Abreu Vineyards, Madrona Ranch, Napa Valley, California, USA

The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.

David Abreu was born into a family of ranchers in the Napa Valley district of California, and spent most of his youth working in the first ever Napa vineyards. In the 1980s David purchased Madrona Ranch, which he developed into vineyards and farmland. This is where it all started, and was the first property David ever purchased. With Madrona being a hugely diverse plot of land, many grape blending options were available to David, each with their own complexity of flavours. A little later, he purchased the Cappella vineyards, one of the oldest in St. Helena. Because of the diseased rootstock that lay there, it took David six years before he managed to grow the new vines into a healthy condition. He had tasted the Cappella fruit in the 70s, and new it would be worth the hard work. Thorevilos was one of the places David spent a lot of his childhood. Situated between St. Helena and Howell Mountain, the soil there is perfect for grape growing. So David cultivated the land. In 2000, David purchased Howell Mountain which sits at about 2000 feet elevation, and is surrounded by a protected pine tree forest. Before vine planting, David removed, stacked and preserved a large quantity of redwood stakes, for use in a later life. All the Abreu Vineyards are made up of Cabernet blends.