Enfield Cabernet Sauvignon Waterhorse Ridge Sonoma Coast 2018

80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 7.5% Cabernet Franc, 2.5% Petit Verdot. Enfield Wine Co. is the family project of John Lockwood and Amy Seese, with a focus on producing wines of personality. They do not subscribe to the idea of the perfect wine, but to the notion that the very best wines tell a unique story. After surviving a summer job in high school hand-weeding grape vines at a winery in Vermont and studying as an apprentice to a Master Luthier (guitar builder) in Oakland, John Lockwood got his start in the California wine industry in 2004 working up at Heron Lake vineyard. He went on to work harvests with Ted Lemon at Littorai, Bodega Melipal in Argentina, and Failla Wines with Ehren Jordan where he worked for five years farming and managing the Sonoma Coast and Russian River estate vineyards. He started Enfield Wine Co. in 2010 as a small side-project while still working at Failla, and in 2013 took the plunge with Enfield as a full-time project. Driven by soil first and foremost, Enfield Wine Co. seeks out vineyards that possess a distinct and powerful sense of place – across the region, grape variety, and vine age. Working only with small vineyards and independent growers, every step of the process is guided by the intent to maximize this character of the terroir. Grapes are harvested for balance and the wines are all given the chance to ferment naturally. Waterhorse Ridge is planted on a rocky ridge just five miles away from the Pacific Ocean. The coastal air makes this one of the coolest climate Cabernet sites in all of California, but the rocky soils and exposure to full afternoon sun combine to fully ripen the fruit. The two-acre vineyard is farmed entirely by hand by Jesus Velasquez. It is dry-farmed, no-till, and organic. After native fermentation, the wine is aged for 18 months in barrique and large oak barrels with 15% being new oak. It is also unfined and unfiltered. The coastal freshness and aromatics are present, along with a generosity that shows itself right out of the bottle. It drinks seductively ripe with black currant and dark chocolate while maintaining its elegance, so there is no heaviness on the palate. It's a wine that makes us fall in love with Californian wine and Enfield itself.