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Kinsman: We won’t make single vineyard Cabernet in 2020
Nigel Kinsman of boutique Napa Valley estate Kinsman Eades has revealed that he won’t be bottling any single vineyard Cabernet from 2020 due to smoke taint.
Nigel Kinsman and his wife Shae won’t be bottling any single vineyard Cabernet in 2020
Kinsman and his wife Shae had to be evacuated from their home in St. Helena for two weeks due to the recent wildfires.
“We’ve been impacted on many levels. For our personal project, Kinsman Eades, we were set to source fruit from four vineyards to produce four vineyard designate wines this year – we rejected the fruit on the vine in three out of four,” Kinsman revealed.
“We did bring in a small amount of Cabernet from one vineyard, with the view to seeing what we could learn from the fruit. We’ll have to see how this wine behaves over the following months, but it’s a forgone conclusion that we will not release any single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon wines from Napa in 2020,” he added.
The estate will, however, be making Syrah this year. “We had a friend offer us two tons of Syrah from Bien Nacido Vineyard in Santa Maria Valley and White Hawk Vineyard in Santa Barbara, which we grabbed with both arms!
“It’s super exciting to be back making Syrah again, and to get to smell a ‘clean’ fermenter in the winery. One thing is for sure, change brings opportunity, and new perspectives,” Kinsman told db.
Kinsman Eades was founded by Nigel and Shae in 2016. Keen to make site specific wines that show off their origins, the wines are fruit led and characterful.
The two main plots they work with in Napa are a terraced 30-year-old Cabernet vineyard in Diamond Mountain boasting decomposed volcanic ash soils and a sprinkling of Cabernet Franc and Malbec; and a valley floor plot in Yountville called Sleeping Lady planted with 22-year-old Cabernet on gravel soils.
“The wines celebrate the interesting edges rather than polishing them away,” according to Pol Roger Portfolio, the exclusive UK importer for the range.
Prior to his Napa Valley project, Aussie-born Kinsman made wine at Petaluma, Cullen Wines and Mount Langi Ghiran in Australia, and Tolaini Estate in Tuscany. Before going it alone, he was the winemaker at Araujo Estate.