It has always puzzled us that the Knights Valley has remained relatively unknown, when you consider delicious and value oriented wines like today’s Anakota 2012 Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Bring together a 15 degree slope at the base of Mt Saint Helena and one of the best winemakers of his generation and you have this wine, truly a perfect expression of what Cabernet Sauvignon can be when sourced from mountain vineyard sites. It rocks, literally. Ferrous soils and loam absolutely shine through in the wine.

Today’s wine shines on its own, but really comes to life when paired with a good steak.

Cheers!

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What the wine press has to say

96 points - Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (October 2015) - “The 2012s are the most showy and forward of the three vintages, which is not surprising, since the vintage is flamboyant and they are already three years of age. Even as impressive, but showing more truffles, charcoal, graphite and camphor, along with blackberry and cassis, is the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota (1,017 cases).

This wine shows even more fruit than its sibling and is bigger, bolder and slightly broader across the palate. All these wines are highly recommended and are brilliant efforts, but will probably need coaxing and patience in the cellar, given their rather bigger-than-life styles and richness.

The winemaker behind the Anakota high-elevation mountain vineyard sites in Knights Valley is no other than Pierre Seillan, the Bordelais guru who makes the fabulous wines of Vérité from the same proprietor, the Jackson family.

There are two cuvées from various elevations in Knights Valley, the lower elevation called Helena Montana and the higher site, the Helena Dakota. Production of these cuvées ranges from the smallest in 2013, with just over 500 cases of each produced, jumping to 700-800 in 2014 and a whopping 1,000-1,300 in 2012 – the most generous of the three vintages.

These are all 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 100% French oak and are meant for long, long-term aging. I would suggest that these may be, potentially, the longest-lived wines being made in Knights Valley, even exceeding the potential age-worthiness of the Peter Michael Les Pavots cuvées that are made in this microclimate on the Sonoma side, but near the Napa County line.”