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2010 Cornerstone Cellars Napa ValleyThe Cornerstone

From the quality of our fruit to the execution of every detail in the cellar, we set the highest standard for The Cornerstone. The Cornerstone is created to express our passion for excellence, highlighting the personalities of each vintage, vineyard and variety as well as the unique terroir that is Napa Valley.

We feel the wine should possess all the elements of greatness - individuality, power combined with elegance, extraordinary complexity and remarkable aging potential. Striving to provide a wine that is the most profound expression of the vintage, we combine Bordeaux varietals from a number of our classic vineyards without constraints. We assemble the finest blend from the finest barrels regardless of vineyard and variety. The result is an extremely limited production of an ultra-premium wine

The harvest of 2010 was one of extremes for many Napa Valley winemakers and vintners. The Napa Valley experienced an unusually cool, damp summer which delayed ripening by a good 3 weeks. These cooler temperatures coupled with a stubborn coastal cloud layer that seemed never to break up caused the vineyard growth cycle to move along slowly.Then we got SLAMMED...third week of August, a heat wave sent triple digit temperatures across the state and any exposed fruit, unaccustomed to such a radical onslaught, succumbed to sunburn damage. When it came time to pick the crews had to first make a pass through the vineyard and remove all the sunburned or shriveled grapes. They then went back through to pick the clusters that were optimally ripe. This is a textbook case of ‘precision farming’, it can be very time consuming, but the results are worth all the extra effort. Cooler than average temperatures returned again in early September, but gave way to a welcome and consistent Indian Summer, bringing concentrated flavors and tannin development at lower sugar levels allowing us to make elegant, structured, impeccably balanced wines.

Captivating all the senses, the 2010 Cornerstone Cellars The Cornerstone is exemplified by incredibly rich layers of complexity and remarkable overall balance. Intense and complex aromatics explode from the glass in detailed precision. Black cherries, black currants, dried herbs, dark chocolate, cinnamon and a touch of graphite all concentrated and lifted.Immediately full and generous, every inch of the palate is covered with layers of complexity and texture, but lifted to excite the senses with a dash of minerality. A broad, youthful tannin structure gains weight throughout the palate to a long flowing finish.

And, yes it is drinking beautifully now, but there is plenty of tannin lurking within its layers that this enthusiastic wine will age gracefully, enjoying a long, rewarding life in the bottle and will offer increasingly dramatic drinking pleasures for years to come.

Suggested Retail $125 750mL

Composition82% Cabernet SauvignonOakville Station, Oakville

11% MerlotStewart Ranch Vineyard, Carneros

7% Cabernet FrancTalcott Vineyard, St. Helena

HarvestEach vineyard was harvested in early to late October 2010 in perfect conditions

Aging22 months in 100% new French oak

Bottling DateJuly 17, 2012

Cases Produced103 cases

Bottling AnalysisAlcohol: 14.90% pH: 3.58TA .610 g/100mL