2018 Rivers-Marie Panek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon2018 Rivers-Marie Panek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon - 750ml

Our first ten vintages at Panek we worked with the same five
blocks, one acre parcels of clones 4, 6, 7, 169 and 337.  These five front blocks at Panek were all
planted in 2006 and have been cane pruned since their inception.  We always felt fortunate to have this much high-quality
fruit to select from when finalizing the Panek blend every year.  In 2018, the Panek family offered us the
whole ranch, turning over the three older vine, cordon trained blocks in the
back of the property.  Not knowing quite
what to expect, we vinified and barreled these separately.  These naturally lower yielding parcels
produced wines of enormous concentration and color.  As we sat down to blend, we realized all of these
wines were of single vineyard quality, some were even better than most of the
blocks we had been working with the last ten years.  Eventually we singled out a small block of
clone 191 as the most logical addition to the 2018 Panek blend.  This block added a tremendous amount of
structure to the wine, something that is occasionally lacking from this
site.  It also darkened the fruit profile
pushing the wine from a red/black profile to the a more purple/black
expression.  The vineyard signature is
still there of course but feels fuller and more impactful.  Purple flowers, graphite, cassis and smoke
jump out of the glass at first inspection. 
The texture is more layered this year, due in part to both the vintage
and the inclusion of a new block from the vineyard.  The palate turns very stony early and then
veers to blueberries, dark chocolate and some meaty, iron notes as the finish
kicks in.  I thought we had taken this
about as far as we could with the 2016 but the 2018 is at another level.