Ad Vivum "Sleeping Lady" Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
(Napa Valley, California) - [DM 100] [JD 96+] [JS 96] [WE 94] [WS 94] [VM 93+]

About the Winery:
We strive to act instead of react. We practice patience through careful observation. We aim for balance and equilibrium between fruit expression, texture, and acidity.

Notes from the Winemaker:

Composition:
100% Cabernet Sauvignon (75% Clone 191, 25% Clone 7)

Single-Vineyard:

All fruit for the 2021 AD VIVUM Cabernet Sauvignon was grown at Sleeping Lady Vineyard, in Yountville, Napa Valley. Sleeping Lady, the southernmost vineyard in the Yountville AVA, is in a location that enjoys ample cooling from nearby San Pablo Bay, which promotes gradual ripening. These blocks are at the vineyard’s uppermost western perimeter along the Mayacamas Mountains, with rows oriented southwest-northeast. The Bettinelli family farms the vineyard meticulously, using sustainable and responsible farming.

Soil:
The soil profile shows Keefers dark gravelly-sandy clay loam of alluvial origin.

Growing Season & Harvest:

2021 was a dry season, but good late winter rains provided soil moisture for a good bud break. Early shoot growth and canopy development were strong at Sleeping Lady, due to water from upslope springs being metered into the water table. Summer temperatures, with just one period of heat, were exceptionally favorable to the development of tannins and color in Cabernet Sauvignon. Little crop thinning was required, as the vines once again naturally set a quantity of fruit tailored to the canopy size. The final stage of ripening was picture-perfect -steady and gradual.

Winemaking:

All fruit was harvested in the early morning hours of October 11^th. After gentle de-stemming and optical berry sorting, the cold must was transferred to tanks (75%) and barrels (25%), where it was allowed to warm up naturally. Primary fermentation was slow but steady, and total time on the skin was 18 days. The new wine was then drained immediately into 75% new French oak barrels for 20 months of aging prior to bottling in July 2023. 2,400 bottles produced.

Tasting Notes:

Deep red garnet, with a vermillion edge, the 2021 Ad Vivum is visually stunning. Palpable tension in the entire tasting profile lifts and integrates the dense blackcurrant fruit and ripe, seamless, fine-grained structure. Subtle notes of graphite, espresso, and cedar are woven gracefully into the whole. The finish is long, aromatically complex, and voluptuous. Clearly a wine to be involved in both the short term and for 2 or 3 decades to come, this is a very polished wine designed to please all of your senses.

Ratings & Reviews

100 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"An elegant, polished, and seamless Cabernet Sauvignon from longtime Napa Valley winemaker Chris Phelps. It possesses an ethereal quality, an almost weightlessness, but contains multitudes. I tasted it on three separate occasions and one bottle over a three-day period. It was still vibrant and full of life on day three, and that is the mark of a classic. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the Sleeping Lady Vineyard in Yountville, a stone's throw from Dominus. It shows a deep ruby to purple in the glass. It is beautifully fragrant with black cherry, wild herbs, and cedar wood spices nuanced by rose petal florals. Medium to full-bodied with gorgeous, silky fruit redolent of blackberry, plum, and black cherry, all laced with tobacco spices. The tannins are super fine-grained, and a firm spine of juicy acidity keeps everything lively and fresh. The finish is exceedingly long, with a wealth of concentrated fruit that lingers for a full minute. Simply the best vintage of Ad Vivum that Phelps has ever produced." - Jonathan Cristaldi (Feb 2024)

96+ Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Sleeping Lady Vineyard showed beautifully, with a ripe, concentrated, unevolved style that will benefit from bottle age. Cr me de cassis, plums, candied violets, and spring flower notes all define the bouquet, and it's a ripe, powerful wine with moderate acidity, a lush, layered mouthfeel, sweet tannins, and a great finish. Give bottles 3-4 years if you can, and it should have 15-20 years of overall longevity." (Dec 2023)

96 Points - James Suckling: 
"Ultra-concentrated, smooth and velvety, peppered with sage, earth and iron aromas. It’s equally flavorful on the palate. So full-bodied, broad and deep, but gentle to sip. Dark plums, black cherries, blackcurrants, spearmint and dark chocolate supported by good acidity and very fine-grained tannins. From the Sleeping Lady Vineyard. Drink or hold." (Sep 2024)

94 Points - Wine Enthusiast:
"Intriguing and generous, this lushly textured wine is full of flavors of black plum, black tea and layers of oak spices. Bold yet brooding, the wine offers powdery-fine, abundant tannins and energizing acidity." - ECB (Nov 2024)

94 Points - Wine Spectator:
"A touch old school, with notes of cast iron and warm loam guiding a core of cassis, bitter plum and black cherry compote. Focused, with a mouthwatering savory note emerging through the finish that pulls the fruit and minerality together nicely. Drink now through 2038. 200 cases made." - JM (Nov 2024)

93+ Points - Vinous Media:
"The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Sleeping Lady Vineyard is a beautifully polished, sophisticated wine. Blue-toned fruit, herbs, lavender, spice and crème de cassis are some of the notes that grace this understated, linear Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s great to see the vineyard name and AVA featured on the label, something more producers should do." - Antonio Galloni (Dec 2023)