Monroy Wines Kick Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Valley 2021

You may not know the name Adolfo Hernandez, but you have most certainly witnessed some of his hard work here in Napa Valley. Over the last 15 years, Adolfo has spent time honing his craft and learning from the very best at Araujo Estate (now known as Eisele Vineyard), Checkerboard Vineyards, and Pahlmeyer before taking the Associate Winemaker position at esteemed Russian River Pinot Noir house, Benovia.

Always drawn to science, Adolfo began his career as a chemist in organic pesticide production. After a few years in research and development, he switched to winemaking and started at Clos du Bois as a laboratory supervisor just before the 2006 vintage. From there, Adolfo was continuously exposed to some of the greatest wine minds in the world. After four years at Araujo Estate, where he worked with winemaker Francoise Peschon and vineyard guru Steve Matthiasson, Adolfo went up the hill to Checkerboard Vineyards on Diamond Mountain and studied under Harlan-Alumni Martha McClellan. Martha’s winemaking style, centered around barrel-fermenting Cabernet grapes in 60-gallon French oak barrels, ignited a spark within Adolfo, and the dream of making his own wine began to bloom. This tedious, time-consuming, expensive, and laborious detail contributes to the world-class structure of Monroy Wines.

Adolfo’s 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon hails from the Kick Ranch vineyard situated in the Fountaingrove District of Sonoma County. The 40-acre vineyard spreads along the slopes of the western side of Spring Mountain, where the cooler climate maintains higher acidity levels that Adolfo seeks for his Cab. Adolfo’s plot is planted to the Disney clone of Cabernet, a clone first developed in the late 1960s on a small vineyard off the Silverado Trail, which eventually became the property of Lillian Disney, Walt Disney’s widow. After two separate harvests in early and late October, Adolfo and his helping hands sorted and de-stemmed the grapes before fermenting them in twelve oak barrels. The barrels remained on rolling racks throughout fermentation, where Adolfo turned them two to three times per day to promote extraction. Once initial fermentation was complete, Adolfo pressed and blended the twelve barrels and returned the wine to 40% new oak for twenty months of additional aging.

The 2021 Kick Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is an expressive wine, exuding both depth and elegance. Intensely perfumed, it greets the nose with an intoxicating bouquet of rose petals, violets, and cedar, complemented by delicate notes of lavender and pomegranate. Hints of oak spice lend a subtle warmth, framing the aromatic complexity. The wine is structured yet supple on the palate, with vibrant red fruit and black olive tapenade notes. Plush, fine-grained tannins seamlessly integrate balances with impressive acidity, creating layers of tension and nuance.