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2018 The Debate - Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Artalade Montagna Vineyard (750ml)
The Debate
SKU 91991

2018 The Debate - Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Artalade Montagna Vineyard (750ml)

$189.00 - $189.00
$189.00
$189.00 - $189.00
$189.00
Availability:
Only 2 left!

2018 The Debate Cabernet Sauvignon — Artalade Montagna Vineyard, Napa Valley

The Debate is a wine-on-wine conversation across three distinct Napa Valley sites, vinified identically so the differences reveal terroir. The Artalade Montagna Vineyard sits on Pritchard Hill, a mountain site famed for dense, structured fruit with real aging potential. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon was fermented entirely in barrel, spending twenty-seven days on the skins before an extended twenty-three month aging period in French oak, seventy percent of it new. Production stays intentionally small, allowing close attention to every barrel and reinforcing the wine's concentrated, mountain-driven character.

Terroir, winemaking, and aging details

  • Vineyard: Artalade Montagna on Pritchard Hill — a high-elevation site contributing density and structure
  • Fermentation: 100% in barrel
  • Skin contact: 27 days
  • Aging: 23 months in French oak, 70% new
  • Production: small-batch, craft-focused

Tasting profile

This wine pours a deep, dense purple and opens with a chorus of blueberry, black cherry, and cassis, layered with tobacco, graphite, and crushed stone minerality that builds with time in the glass. On the palate, it is richly textured and full-bodied, carried by firm, well-structured tannins that hint at impressive aging potential. The overall impression is mountain-driven power balanced by refined, persistent nuance that rewards patience.

Aging potential and when to enjoy

Designed for the cellar, this Cabernet Sauvignon benefits from time to harmonize its youthful intensity. Given its concentrated structure and vineyard-derived character, it will continue to evolve with careful aging, developing additional complexity and velvet in tannins over the years.

Food pairings and serving ideas

  • Grilled bison steak
  • Aged pecorino or other assertive cheeses
  • Rich dark chocolate torte
95+ Points
"Coming from a site on Pritchard Hill, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Artalade Montagna Vineyards is pure Mountain fruit and reveals a powerful, dense, primordial style that's going to reward bottle age. Dense purple, with impressive purity in its blueberry and black cherry fruits, it offers more tobacco, graphite, and crushed stone-like minerality with time in the glass. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated on the palate, it wasn't until the second day that this started to offer some complexity and charm, and it's going to require a solid decade of bottle age to hit the early stages of maturity. It will have 30 years or more of ultimate longevity."
—Jeb Dunnuck-Jeb Dunnuck
Appellation: Napa
Vintage: 2018
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: California
Country: USA
Bottle Size: 750ml
Producer: The Debate
The Debate

2018 The Debate Cabernet Sauvignon — Artalade Montagna Vineyard, Napa Valley

The Debate is a wine-on-wine conversation across three distinct Napa Valley sites, vinified identically so the differences reveal terroir. The Artalade Montagna Vineyard sits on Pritchard Hill, a mountain site famed for dense, structured fruit with real aging potential. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon was fermented entirely in barrel, spending twenty-seven days on the skins before an extended twenty-three month aging period in French oak, seventy percent of it new. Production stays intentionally small, allowing close attention to every barrel and reinforcing the wine's concentrated, mountain-driven character.

Terroir, winemaking, and aging details

  • Vineyard: Artalade Montagna on Pritchard Hill — a high-elevation site contributing density and structure
  • Fermentation: 100% in barrel
  • Skin contact: 27 days
  • Aging: 23 months in French oak, 70% new
  • Production: small-batch, craft-focused

Tasting profile

This wine pours a deep, dense purple and opens with a chorus of blueberry, black cherry, and cassis, layered with tobacco, graphite, and crushed stone minerality that builds with time in the glass. On the palate, it is richly textured and full-bodied, carried by firm, well-structured tannins that hint at impressive aging potential. The overall impression is mountain-driven power balanced by refined, persistent nuance that rewards patience.

Aging potential and when to enjoy

Designed for the cellar, this Cabernet Sauvignon benefits from time to harmonize its youthful intensity. Given its concentrated structure and vineyard-derived character, it will continue to evolve with careful aging, developing additional complexity and velvet in tannins over the years.

Food pairings and serving ideas

  • Grilled bison steak
  • Aged pecorino or other assertive cheeses
  • Rich dark chocolate torte
95+ Points
"Coming from a site on Pritchard Hill, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Artalade Montagna Vineyards is pure Mountain fruit and reveals a powerful, dense, primordial style that's going to reward bottle age. Dense purple, with impressive purity in its blueberry and black cherry fruits, it offers more tobacco, graphite, and crushed stone-like minerality with time in the glass. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated on the palate, it wasn't until the second day that this started to offer some complexity and charm, and it's going to require a solid decade of bottle age to hit the early stages of maturity. It will have 30 years or more of ultimate longevity."
—Jeb Dunnuck-Jeb Dunnuck
Appellation: Napa
Vintage: 2018
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: California
Country: USA
Bottle Size: 750ml
Producer: The Debate