The majestic Stag’s head gracing the label of Samuel Charles North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that has been leaping off retail shelves in California and a few other
western states, will soon become familiar to discerning wine-lovers in the rest of the country with the introduction of a single-vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon
Blanc from California’s High Valley appellation. Samuel Charles Oak Knoll Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 and High Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2018 will be unveiled in early 2019. Like the Stag, a large male deer indigenous to Europe but now found as far away as Argentina and New Zealand, these two European varietals have taken root in vineyards across most of the New World.
According to Dennis Kreps, who owns the brand along with his father, Stephen D. Kreps, “The Stag is a perfect symbol for our wines – melding Old World varietals and basic winemaking techniques with New World technology and innovation. We believe we have ‘the best of both worlds’ in the Samuel Charles wines.” The first release of the label, a California Cabernet of intense North Coast mountain fruit, with complex notes of dark chocolate and blackberry, caught on so quickly that the demand outstripped supply, limiting the wine’s release. With the two new wines, there should be enough to ensure that consumers around the country will be able to enjoy the results of special fruit and expert winemaking.
Renowned Napa Valley winemaker Robert Pepi is making the two wines, as he does for
the Two Angels brand, also owned by the Kreps family. “We’re sourcing the grapes for the Oak Knoll Cab from a vineyard located on the benchlands of the Mayacamas Mountain Range, where some of the region’s finest terroir is found,” Bob said. “The resulting wine is already showing the vineyard’s typicity, with complex aromas of blackberries, dark fruit and a hint of black pepper among other spices. I let it age for ten months in French oak, thirty percent of the new barrels, that I believe has helped knit together the wine’s abundant fruit flavors.”The Sauvignon Blanc grapes come from the High Valley.
True to its name, at nearly 2,000 feet these are some of the highest, and Bob believes, the best vineyards for Sauvignon Blanc in California. “With sharply-sloped and well-drained hillside soils, and slightly cooler daytime temperatures, the grapes from these vines generate wonderful fruit characteristics,
especially of grapefruit and lemon,” Bob explained. While he has fermented and aged the wine exclusively in stainless steel to preserve the fresh fruit, he also conducted partial aging to bring added richness to the palate. “Both of these Samuel Charles wines show our commitment to bringing consumers ‘terroir-specific’ wines from superior sub-appellations within California’s top-rated wine regions,” Dennis explains. “The label is named for my two sons, which expresses my great pride in them, and in these wines.”
Samuel Charles Oak Knoll Cabernet Sauvignon will have a suggested retail price of
$79.99, with the High Valley Sauvignon Blanc retailing for $24.99. For more information,
contact Quintessential, either via the website, www.quintessentialwines.com or by telephone at (707) 226-8300.
Bottle Photo and Label Available
About Quintessential Wines:
Founded in 2002 by father and son, Stephen D. and Dennis Kreps, Quintessential is a family-owned-and-operated import, marketing and sales company headquartered in Napa, California. It is dedicated exclusively to representing other multi-generational, family-owned-and-operated producers who have the same passion for winemaking that Quintessential has for strategically marketing and selling those wines. These producers, from top wine regions around the world, create wines that offer the best, most authentic expression of the grapes from their respective vineyards. For more information, please visit http://www.quintessentialwines.com.
