Abreu Vineyards
For those who might not be familiar with the story, David Abreu is one of the premier vineyard managers in Napa Valley. Along the way, he has acquired or developed relationships with several significant vineyard sites, and from 2016 to 2018 bottled four single-vineyard wines. I also tasted the 2019 Rothwell Hyde, which is a blend assembled from barrels that don't fit the single-vineyard profiles.
Madrona Ranch is home base for Abreu, and it's the first of these properties he acquired. Driving through, one notices the profusion of animals, farm equipment, riding ring, and soccer pitch—and grapevines—at the base of Spring Mountain. Capella isn't far away, also on the western side of St. Helena. Across the valley, Las Posadas is the highest of Abreu's four single vineyards, situated above the Howell Mountain fog line at 2,000 feet above sea level. Thorevilos, which Abreu doesn't own, has been renamed Ecotone, and it's my understanding that Abreu won't produce it going forward. Like Las Posadas, it's also on the eastern side of the valley, too far east to be considered St. Helena but not high enough in elevation to fall within the borders of the Howell Mountain AVA.
Not originally a winemaker, Grimes operates intuitively. "I'm not an enologist," he said. "I just let the wine be the wine."
These are rich, concentrated and often sumptuous Cabernet-based blends, each one worthy of serious interest. To say I was blown away would be putting it mildly. Production is very limited, so readers interested in acquiring these gems should sign up for the waiting list for an allocation, or be prepared to pay a premium on the secondary market - Joe Czerwinski The Wine Advocate.