September 2022 Shipment
Old World and New World “Micro-Cru”
We are excited to include two of our limited-production wines in your September Vigneron Collection shipment: The 96-point 2016 Tenuta di Arceno Valadorna Toscana IGT and the 99-point 2019 Anakota Helena Dakota Cabernet Sauvignon from Knights Valley in Sonoma County.
The 2016 vintage is considered an excellent vintage across Tuscany. The growing season began with cool, wet weather. By July, weather conditions had shifted to dry and hot with minimal rainfall. The wide thermal range produced wines with ripe fruit flavors, vibrant acidity, and explosive aromatics. This Merlot-led blend is sourced primarily from the Valadorna and Capria blocks, which produce the estate’s most complex and mineral-based expressions of this variety. The 2016 Valadorna is expressive and elegant with ripe fruit flavors, vibrant acidity, and explosive aromatics.
The Anakota vineyards are set along the flanks and foothills of Mount St. Helena and the Mayacamas Mountains. This rustic sanctuary possesses the sparse volcanic soils and ideal climate needed to produce elegant, profound, and age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignons. The Helena Dakota vineyard runs southwest to northeast on the western side of Mount Saint Helena, with slopes of up to 15 degrees. Prevailing westerly winds pass over a large, cold pond and blow uphill, parallel to the rows of vines. The 2019 Helena Dakota is a tour de force of ripe black currant, blueberry compote, fresh pencil shavings, and subtle toasted cardamom aromatics. The palate is supple and rich, perfectly balancing this wine’s firm structure, leading to a long finish of bittersweet dark baking chocolate, marked by fruit and iron minerality.