Dalecio Family Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District 2016

One of our favorite things to do as a team here at ACME is to introduce our cherished clientele to outstanding new labels still in their infancy- if possible, as early as the inaugural vintage. As fate would have it, only a few days ago, Scott Dalecio personally and proudly delivered us just a few cases from his marvelous new project: Dalecio Family Wines.

Scott and Kathleen Dalecio are Bay Area natives whose professional lives lay at the intersection of resorts, hotels, and hospitality, which led them further afield to Hawaii and Southern California. But this dynamic duo always harbored a desire to return to their Northern California roots and to imbue that love of hospitality into a home in the Napa Valley- with a fantastic wine on the table to share with family and friends of course. Fortuitously, Scott and Kathleen stumbled upon a tidy little vineyard estate to call their own here in Napa just south of us in Rutherford. So intertwined are hospitality, wine, and family for them, each Dalecio cork is emblazoned with the phrase “Love, etc.!” which is the cheerful sendoff used by Kathleen’s father, John, to conclude all his correspondence with his children and grandchildren.

While the dream is to ultimately offer an estate wine, the Dalecio wines are sourced from some of the most coveted districts here in Napa, among them: Diamond Mountain, Pritchard Hill, Oakville, and Coombsville. Not simply satisfied with procuring the best fruit from the ultimate locales, Scott and Kathleen have teamed up with none other than the iconic winemakers Philippe Melka (Tusk Estates, Dana Estates, Vice Versa) and Maayan Koschitzky (Atelier Melka, La Pelle, Brilliant Mistake) to craft wines of outstanding caliber.

Expressing the topographical variety, multifaceted nature of this hillside AVA- the Dalecio Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon is deep in color and has an elegant nose of dark plum, warm cassis, black cherry, mountain spices, crushed rock, and a hint of eucalyptus. Featuring 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, Philippe aged this wine for 20 months in 70% new French Oak. The result is a full-bodied wine with impressive texture and layers of well-integrated tannins. Finishing exceptionally long, while approachable when young, this concentrated wine will continue to evolve and age very gracefully. Just 7 barrels produced.