Description
93 Points | The Wine Advocate, Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Containing 3% Petit Verdot and 5% Merlot, bottled in May 2017, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Onda has a deep garnet-purple color and expressive nose of cassis, fresh plums and mulberries with touches of spice cake, violets and wild thyme. Medium to full-bodied, fine and refreshing in the mouth, it delivers loads of open-knit fruit and spice notions with great length.
A very impressive revival of this historical estate in Rutherford (formally the Livingston-Moffett Estate), under the diligent consultancy of Philippe Melka, Dana Estates is producing polished and expressive superstar wines from three wonderfully diverse vineyards. Helms Vineyard consists of five acres on gravelly loam, right on the northern edge of the Rutherford bench, planted in 1997 and 1998. Hershey Vineyard on Howell Mountain is 26 acres in total, 18 of which were planted in 2008. It is planted to just about all aspects imaginable, so it’s quite a varied site, although the Dana Hershey label comes mainly from just four blocks. Lotus Vineyard is just below Howell Mountain, not high enough to make that AVA. A very steep vineyard, 100% hand farmed, Lotus is by far the warmest site for this estate. Onda is a blend of all the vineyards, including their fourth Crystal Springs vineyard, which does not produce a single vineyard wine.
As with most of Northern California, 2015 was a very small vintage for Dana Estates, producing very small berries with little or no seeds, which is likely a contributing factor to the firm yet beautifully ripe, sensuous tannins this vintage lends. After the drought vintages and a larger crop in 2014, 2015 naturally set a smaller crop. 2016 gave a really nice balance between fruit set and canopy with very little crop thinning required.