Anakota "Helena Montana Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
(Knights Valley, Sonoma, California) - [JS 99, #37 Top 100 '22] [WA 97] [JD 97]

About the Winery:
Sourced from estate-owned vineyards, Anakota is a collection of single vineyard, single varietal wines that personify the rustic elegance and spirit of rural Sonoma County. Rising more than 4,000 feet above sea level, Mount St. Helena looks down on our two prized estate-owned vineyards, Helena Dakota and Helena Montana, which are quietly situated on the rugged flanks of the Mayacamas Mountain Range.

About this Wine:
Lush, velvety and opulent, Helena Montana chronicles the terroir at this steep, Knights Valley hillside site. The signature attributes include blackberries, currants, violets, chocolate, spice and licorice. The palate offers deep, expansive flavors supported by soft, silky tannins. While Helena Montana typically shows well in its youth, it is a wine that will expand and improve with age.

Tasting Notes:
Focused and powerful on the nose, showing ripe red and black currant, along with dried bouquet garni and a subtle frame of sweet baking spices. The palate is a tour de force of varied fruit and non-fruit flavors, wrapped around a powerful core, teeming with firm tannin and juicy acidity.

Technical Information

Vineyard Notes:
Running northeast to southwest at an elevation of 950 feet above sea level, the 60-acre Helena Montana vineyard is marked by rolling hills and steep benches that tilt up to 30 degrees. It features firm, dense, white/yellow gravelly loam soils that drain extremely well. The combination of hills, knolls and trees helps route cool, westerly winds away from the vines. Helena Montana Cabernets are concentrated and powerful with black fruit flavors, spice, minerals and muscular tannins. Pierre finds the Cabernet from Helena Montana to be reminiscent of the wines of Margaux.

ELEVATION: 950 ft
SOIL: Yellow-white sandy and gravelly loam
VINEYARD: Shallow roots, stressed vines
CELLAR AGING: 20 years

99 Points - James Suckling:
"Incredibly spicy and aromatic with pumice and cloves. Pops out of the glass. Cedar, too. Full-bodied with soft, polished tannins adding tension and creaminess. Long and beautiful. All about class and breeding. Try after 2025." 

97 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
"Deep ruby, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard offers its cassis aromas slowly, continually unfolding to accents of lavender, cured meats, chargrill, coffee and loads of savory spices. Matured 12 months in 70% new French oak, the palate is surprisingly lifted and silky, soaring with youthful fruit and spices, focused acidity and a streak of graphite driving the long finish. 1,379 cases were made. Hélène Seillan notes that the oak is sourced from about 15 different forests in France, and its singular, spicy, integrated oak is part of what makes this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon so distinctive." - Erin Brooks (7/2022)

97 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana, from chalk soils with western-facing exposition, is the most exuberant in terms of its aromatics, with candied flowers, cherry liqueur, sweet tobacco, and graphite. The fruit fills the palate up front and through the mid-palate, with a refreshing spine of acidity and great mineral texture. The tannins are ripe and well-integrated. This is a delicious wine out of the gate and will be worth holding onto and checking in on over the next 20 years." (8/2022)