Source & Sink Kimberly Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Valley 2019

You know us, we love finding new brands! But not every discovery knocks us off our feet. Maybe the wines are great, but the vineyard sources aren’t super exciting, or the farming is cutting edge, but the wines don’t blow our minds. While new brands with qualities that get our heart rates up will cross our desks almost daily, it’s not often that we come across the full package. Well, we have found our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in the form of Source & Sink, an up-and-coming brand from two Chicago natives who are truly doing it all! Aaron Cherney and Randal Feldman met serendipitously during the 2017 wine harvest in Sonoma. Randal has been deeply entrenched in the wine industry for years; he worked in the vineyards for Roche and Scribe and built a philosophy for organic and biodynamic farming while working alongside the viticultural godfather, Phil Coturri. Aaron is a self-proclaimed “jaded banker” who left his suit-and-tie finance gig in Chicago for the 2017 harvest and never looked back. When the two met, they aligned immediately on a very important ethos – they wanted to make great wines and farm the vineyards from which they sourced. Now, this may go without saying, but to find a brand that does both the farming and the winemaking is not at all common. Especially considering that both men have full-time jobs outside of this brand – where they find the time to prune and pick is beyond us! But one thing is for sure, their dedication to the moral backbone of their brand is admirable and sets their brand apart from the rest. This Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from the Kimberly Vineyard in Kenwood which is a small area within the Sonoma Valley AVA. Aaron and Randal have found a winemaker’s jackpot in this vineyard – 6.5 acres owned by a local family who has given them complete creative control as far as the farming and the planting! The duo has converted the vineyard to dry farming and will no doubt be amazing stewards of this vineyard for years to come. A judicious 20% new French oak was used during the barrel aging and the resulting wine is super fresh and light on its feet! Notes of rose petal, graphite, and red apple coupled with a silky-smooth texture and fine-grained tannins will cement this Cabernet as your new weeknight wine. Only 150 cases were produced and with a refreshing 12.8% abv!