Fission 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon

A wine of texture, with the intensity and sappy concentration we associate with old vines, it builds into powerful tannins that remain refined, almost cloaked by the seductiveness of the fruit and the gently building structure. The name Fission was ultimately chosen to reference the textural and mineral characteristics that the unique volcanic soils of the Alta Vista vineyard bring to this wine.

As you leave the town of Sonoma and head north into the hills of the Mayacamas mountain range that separates Sonoma from Napa, within a mile and a half you are on a narrow, rutted road at the bottom of a valley, sparsely populated, and then you start climbing, and find yourself almost entirely surrounded by forest, scrub and rock.

When you close the car door and turn to look up at Alta Vista, it’s like striding across a stage and looking up at the lights and rising rows of an audience. It feels like you are in an ancient Roman amphitheater, a player on stage, with the terraced row of vines looking down on you.

The vines at Alta Vista are fully adapted, they are truly part of the site, following the contours of the hill. They are old — fifty years old — which is exceptional by California standards. They come from a different era. And the site has so many expositions, and we believe either has some other varieties (Cabernet Franc) or because of age has Cabernet mutations that behave differently. We want to gently accentuate all these complexities, and the intense fruit and general plushness don’t need further enhancement. Preserving this complexity also leads to far greater aromatic intensity, and more precision in the structure as freshness is retained.

This winemaking is about as minimalist as it gets, and the end result is a wine with not only deep and pure fruit, but rich savory and earth tones, and a finishing minerality that is almost saline. That precise and complex aftertaste, defined by far more than fruit flavors, is where you find truly great wines.