Young Inglewood 'VENN', Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, California 2020

Young Inglewood is a family-owned winery in the heart of Napa Valley, dedicated to crafting elegant, balanced wines with a focus on sustainability. The estate, known for its meticulous farming and gentle winemaking techniques, produces wines that reflect the purity of Napa Valley terroir. This wine captures what is classic about Napa Valley Cabernet. Yes, fruit, and also: savory and aromatic qualities, freshness, and tension. It’s varietally true. Here we find contemporary Napa characteristics reaching back to take cues from the '70s Napa greats and a gateway to what we love about Cabernet Sauvignon.

• Winemaker: Jacky and Scott Young
• Varieties: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
• Appellation: Napa Valley
• Viticulture:  Certified Organic, Low-Input, Regenerative
• Terroir:  Alluvial, Gravelly Loam in the benchlands of Saint Helena
  
• Vinification: Hand-harvested grapes are fermented in small lots using native yeasts, with gentle extraction techniques to ensure a balanced tannin structure.
• Aging: Aged for 18 months in French oak barrels (50% new), adding depth and complexity without overpowering the fruit.
  
• Tasting Note: Redolent with black cherries and berries, tantalizing earthy and savory notes, smooth tannins for structure. Enhanced by micro amounts of other carefully selected Bordeaux varietals, this is the Napa Cab you’ve been looking for. Great for treating yourself and gifting to fellow wine lovers. Delicious quaffable wine crafted to be enjoyed at the vintage. Drink now or cellar.
  

 FROM OUR 2022 BOTTLE CLUB NOTES:

Venn by Young Inglewood  | Cabernet Sauvignon  | Napa Valley, CA | 2018

    It’s not easy to find super high-quality Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that is affordable and well made. In fact, it’s been a pain point for growing our California collection of wines at DECANTsf. Luckily, the mother-son team at Young Inglewood understands this and have produced a new label perfectly suited to our tastes and our wallets. 

    Meet Venn, a minimalist approach to the bluster of the Napa Valley. The winemaking is by Jacky Young, who followed her love of food and wine to Napa from Alabama and purchased land to create a natural vineyard. Her son and winemaking partner Scott cut his teeth at Anne-Claude Leflaive in Burgundy, Spotswood, and Long Meadow Ranch in Napa. Together with husband Jim and daughter Mary, the Young family has been managing Young Inglewood since 1997. The certified organic fruit comes from their regenerative Dos a Dos and Young Inglewood vineyards planted on an alluvial benchland at the base of the Mayacamas mountains in Saint Helena. At harvest, bunches are hand-picked, and fermentation starts spontaneously with the native yeasts living in the winery. The skins stay in contact with its skins for up to a month while fermenting in stainless steel tanks before its transferred to 17% new French oak barrels, where it ages for 20 months before its bottled with minimal SO2. 

    Even though it ticks the boxes of “natural” wine, the Venn is undeniably clean, fresh, and leaving me wanting more. Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, the last 14% is a complimentary mix of the classic Bordelais varieties Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. The acidity is naturally nervy, keeping the rich black fruit and barrel spices in check to allow the more graphite-like minerality to shine. 

    You can hold on to this wine for a bit, or pop it open after a quick splash decanting and enjoy it with a hearty meal. — Cara Patricia, 2022