2017 AERENA Cabernet Sauvignon Red Hills of Lake County 750 ml

Neighboring Napa Valley directly to the northwest, Red Hills is the New World’s next great wine region. That’s what California’s preeminent grape grower Andy Beckstoffer, thinks, and after tasting the Oakville-esque 2017 ÆRENA Cabernet Sauvignon, crafted with 100% Beckstoffer-grown Red Hills fruit, we have no reason to doubt him. 

The 2017 ÆRENA Red Hills Cabernet is bursting with opulent black fruit layered with pronounced oak-driven complexity—smoke, tobacco, and dark chocolate—buttressed by silky yet firm tannins. It doesn’t hurt that winemaker Aaron Pott, an alum of Troplong Mondot, Figeac, Quintessa, and Newton, put the finishing touches on this polished, deep-fruited gem. 

The full-bodied 2017 gives away its superstar origins in quality, but not in price: $20 is a steal for Cabernet of Beckstoffer-Pott pedigree.  

With an unrivaled vineyard portfolio, Beckstoffer is the greatest name in California viticulture. His meticulously grown Cabernet Sauvignon has yielded no less than 38 100-point ratings from the likes of Robert Parker. Napa heritage vineyards like Georges III, Missouri Hopper, Dr. Crane, and a major part of the peerless To Kalon all belong to Andy Beckstoffer. During a recent visit to that most hallowed Oakville site, Beckstoffer actually told us that Lake County’s Red Hills is, “the best Cabernet Sauvignon growing region I’ve ever seen in my life.” 

We’ll let that sink in for just a second. 

Grown 2,400 feet up in the obsidian and iron-rich soils that give the Red Hills AVA its name, the ÆRENA Cabernet Sauvignon is a poster child for the untapped brilliance that Beckstoffer so adores. Here, the skies are crystal clear and the rugged mountain Cabernet receives abundant sunlight abetting ripening and concentrating black fruit flavors—black cherry, black plum, and summertime blackberry—while cooler temperatures prolong the growing season, enhancing the grapes' depth and complexity and yielding notes of licorice, dark chocolate, and graphite. 

ÆRENA Wines owner Michael Polenske (also the founder of Blackbird Vineyards) chose well in handing the winemaking reins to Aaron Pott. After spending time at some of the greatest estates in both Napa and Bordeaux, Pott knows exactly what to do with Cabernet Sauvignon. His approach places Beckstoffer's Red Hills fruit on a pedestal, at the very center of this wine, with seamlessly integrated oak adding polish, refinement, and nuance. The result could easily pass for a Napa Valley bottling bearing a much heftier price tag, but for now, the 2017 ÆRENA is available for a razor-sharp $20.00 a bottle.

In short, this is the time to get to know Red Hills.