2014 Immortal Estate Impassable Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 750 ml

The Wine That May Outlive Us All

The first time Tim Martin and his partners saw the land from which they would ultimately craft this stunning Cabernet, they felt as if they’d been transported across the Atlantic Ocean to somewhere in the Old World vineyards of their dreams.

“When I took my first trip to see this special vineyard, I saw something that looked like it was out of Europe,” he told us. “With a 55-degree slope, it represented something that just isn’t done anymore, and allows us to get fruit profiles you just can’t find here. You just aren’t allowed to plant anymore on these types of steep hills.”

The vineyard, it turns out, was about much more than simply its slope. It had a history as storied and as personal as any in California wine country. The previous owner, who crafted unforgettable wines from it under the Hidden Ridge label, passed away in 2016, leaving both a legacy for the ages and a void to be filled. Tim Martin decided to fill it, and then to improve on it. 

Today, we’re honored to share Tim’s first release of the Impassable Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, a bottle made for the cellar and bursting with the density, and cassis, blackberry, and plum-fruited richness Hidden Ridge bottles have long been famous for. But Immortal’s Impassable Mountain goes further, adding extended French Oak aging to the winemaking regimen, lending a cornucopia of exotic spice flavors and undertones of tobacco, toasted oak, and vanilla to the final wine, which has already been resting in the cellar for five years. With powerfully firm tannins and an everlasting finish, we all agreed the name “Immortal” was à propos for this generation of Cabernet.

“The new Immortal brand was created as a tribute to all things timeless,” Tim told us during a recent conversation. “We each strive to place our lasting mark on the world and to leave a legacy. In winemaking, we are hopefully able to create something beautiful that will outlive those currently working to conceive it.”

Tim’s goal was simple: To honor the legacy of Hidden Ridge’s past, to build an even greater one for the future, and to create something that would outlive his time stewarding the land, too. “Our beautiful vineyard was terraced out of the hillside by the previous owner…his work and legacy live on in the unique land,” he explained. “Our mission at Immortal is to continue to reproduce our energy into this vineyard with wines that will last longer than the team creating them. We may be gone 50 years from now, but the wines we create will still be very much alive and drinkable. Our hard work and legacy will be left behind in each of the bottles we artfully produce.”

The wines had always been highly rated, earning top scores over the years including a rare Robert Parker 100-point gold medal, and the Advocate loves Immortal’s Impassable Mountain just as much, tacking 96-98 points onto this release and raving, “This just has richness beyond belief, and a level of complexity and je ne sais quoi character that is hard to articulate.” Parker himself even went on to say, “This is extraordinary winemaking, obviously a great, great terroir.” 

The Impassable Mountain Reserve is a blend of top barrels from the outstanding 2014 season, and one that does delicious justice to Tim’s goal. The final blend combines lots from the site’s upper ridgeline, where intense sunshine instills the grapes with intense power and flavor, leading to a wine that jumps from the glass with black and blue fruit notes, tinged with vanilla and toasted oak. Across its decadent, full-bodied palate, this Cabernet bursts with savory and sweet notes of black fruit, clove, cocoa, and black tea which lead into a finish driven by firm tannins. This wine just might be as immortal as its proprietors claim.