M. Sherwin Cellars, Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District 2018

Our discovery of M. Sherwin Cellars came by way of our favorite Napa Valley locals’ method:  word of mouth.  Through our friend, Scott Dale of Wild Vine Napa Valley (ACME’s stellar concierge partner), we learned about a brand-new wine shipping business run by the Sherwins of Sherwin Family Vineyards.  It couldn’t have been better timing for ACME as we were searching for a new partner to assist us with this integral behind-the-scenes part of our business.  Matt Sherwin, proprietor of M. Sherwin Cellars and general manager of Sherwin Family Vineyards, and his trusted team immediately won us over as a small family-run business that understands and cares about fellow small businesses.  On top of changing the game for ACME regarding the logistics of getting your beloved bottles to you, Matt’s colleagues let us in on a secret and shared a bottle of his micro-production label, M. Sherwin Cellars. Matt is exceptionally humble, but we can’t understand why because this wine is stunning and worthy of all the shout-outs.  Yet again, ACME’s connections paid off, and we’re sharing the benefits, presenting M. Sherwin Cellars 2018 Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.

Having grown up in St. Helena, the son of a vintner, Matt has been fully immersed in the wine world of Napa Valley from a young age.  As with many children born to winemakers and grape growers, chores included pruning the vineyards, cleaning tanks, and helping hand-harvest the grapes.  During these tasks, he listened in on his father’s musings with the vineyard and winery teams and absorbed the fact that guides him today-“winemaking is about expressing the land, with each bottle narrating a unique time and place.” Matt fell in love early with the nuanced profiles of mountain wines, exploring, working with, and learning from his family’s Spring Mountain Estate.  After graduating college, it was only fit that Matt returned to Napa Valley to join the Sherwin Family Vineyards operation as Assistant Winemaker and Vineyard Manager.  In his decade working for the family business, Matt has taken on more responsibility and now acts as General Manager and founded the Sherwin Wine Services off-shoot.  

M. Sherwin Cellars is Matt’s outlet for creative expression and an opportunity to explore the intricacies of crafting wines from Napa’s distinguished mountain sub-AVAs.  It is entirely a passion project, with only three barrels or less produced for each vintage.  Experimentation is vital to Matt’s ethos for M. Sherwin Cellars, but he maintains a North Star of making beautiful terroir-driven and approachable wines.  While the flagship wine featured here showcases Napa’s Spring Mountain AVA, exploring Howell Mountain and others is on the horizon with future releases.

The grapes were pressed upon harvest, and the juice was transferred to French oak barrels for an extended fermentation to encourage concentration of color and flavor.  From there, Matt racked the Cabernet into 100% new French oak barrels, where it rested for 24 months.  His 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is perfectly balanced with a seamless intertwining of tannin and acid.  The classic mountain intensity is demonstrated in the explosive aromas of red currants and dried cherry with supple, elegant tannins on the palate and enough acidity to warrant graceful aging for the next five to ten years.  With such a remarkable Cabernet Sauvignon, we know this wine won’t be secret for long, so enjoy this bottle and procure more for your cellar before it’s gone.