2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Fellom Ranch

Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Roberts were in high spirits on the day I saw them, as the San Francisco Chronicle had just named them Winemakers of the Year, well-deserved recognition for this talented duo who have known each other since childhood. As for the wines, well, they were pretty special, as I hope these notes make clear. Meyers and Roberts use a fair bit of whole clusters and shy away from doing too much in the cellar, which means the wines are made with natural yeasts and see minimal handling in the cellar.

According to Duncan Meyers and Nathan Roberts, another young team making a name for themselves by exploiting cool, high-altitude sites in the North Coast and the Santa Cruz Mountains, 2011 was a rough year for yields because of the cold spells during flowering and subsequent shot berries, but it could be a fine year, quality-wise, for early-ripening varieties. "If you had your fruit in before the rain, which pretty much means that you're not a ripeness junkie anyway, you could make really pretty, fresh wines" Duncan said. In the case of varieties that ripen later, like cabernet, it was important to wait for the rainwater to be absorbed, which wasn't a major issue in dry-farmed vineyards that were starved for moisture after the dry summer and harvested well into October, as late as the 22nd for their Chalk Hill cabernet.