2021 Erikson & Caradin Cabernet Sauvignon Quadrilateral Coombsville

“Y’all aren’t nearly deep enough into Coombsville.”

We were having lunch with a winemaker friend of ours at her place—it was about to be bottling season, and hoses wound in every direction, moving wine from barrel to tank and from one tank to another. At her request, we brought hoagies for the crew in exchange for all the hot Napa gossip. Today, she was holding court on what she thought was the most underrated region in the Valley. 

“The beauty of Coombsville,” she explained between bites, “is in the combination of gravelly loam and volcanic ash soils, plus the cool air off the San Pablo Bay. It’s seven and ten degrees cooler than the rest of Napa Valley, so you can pick a week or two later and not worry about overripeness.”

“Plus”—she was on a roll now—“most people don’t know what a goldmine it is. Realm and Favia might sell for a mint, but you can still make stunning wine there for under $200.” To prove her point, she pulled up a contact in her phone—someone she’d bought some equipment from last year, a guy whose wines really blew her away. You can see where this is going.

We’d secured an allocation of Kevin Morrisey’s Quadrilateral Cab two days later.

Morrisey named his Quadrilateral Cabernet wine for the unique training system in the vineyard, which sends four separate cordons out from the vine’s trunk. That forces the plant to work harder, creating stress that thickens skins and produces power and intensity to match the Coombsville vibrancy. In 2021, he had an ideal vintage to work with, and it shows in the Cab’s ripe fruit and rich tannins.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.70%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2035
• 92% Cabernet Sauvignon4% Cabernet Franc4% Petit Verdot
• Serving temperature – 58°
• Cork