- CRITICAL REVIEWS
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Robert Parker Wine Advocate
2019 Hundred Acre 'Morgan's Way' Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
CONTROL IS ONLY AN ILLUSION
The saying goes, “hindsight is 20/20,” but in this case it was 2019. For years now, Mother Nature has given us some of the greatest and most spectacular growing seasons, but in 2020, she grew angry. We have heard countless times about the impact of the wildfires and the lives it so painfully touched. The last weekend of September proved to be a landmark moment in wine country for all the wrong reasons and it was solemn reminder that we can only control so much. At Hundred Acre we are obsessed in the way that we care for and attend to our vineyards and ultimately the wines we make, but as we were reminded, the destiny of what we make is largely determined by a force greater than ourselves. One of the gifts though that arose from the ashes was our appreciation for the breath-taking beauty of the 2019 vintage. In Jayson’s words, “it is a precious time capsule” and a reminder of why we make wine. One thing you might have noticed is the name Morgan’s Way. From the 2019 vintage and beyond, the previously known Kayli Morgan wine will be known as Morgan’s Way. An homage to the love Jayson has for his only daughter and a slight nod to the power that the love of his little girl has on him.
Winemaker notes
All Hundred Acre wines are made by sorting the fruit berry by berry, fermenting in small, French oak fermenters, and long aging in the finest barriques. The secret to Hundred Acre is no compromise and no detail overlooked, ever. The 2019 vintage marks the 20th Anniversary vintage for Kayli Morgan and is the best I have ever known. I have also decided to rename the vineyard to Morgan’s Way as an homage to the love I have for my only daughter and a slight nod to the power a little girl’s love like hers has on me. the vintage is simply staggering. Must have been fate, since there is no 2020 vintage because of the fires that devastated the Napa Valley.
Vineyard notes
Kayli Morgan (now referred to as Morgan’s Way) is where it all started. In August of 2000, I paid the highest price to date ever paid for planted vineyard land in Napa Valley. After examining the vineyard over a week’s time, I knew I had to own it and that it would make one of the world’s greatest wines. Six weeks later we harvested the first vintage of Hundred Acre, and in a year that was panned by the press, I made one of the highest scoring wines of the vintage...the rest is history. Located just north of Saint Helena, California at the base of Howell Mountain, the soils are a chocolatey clay, holding moisture to keep the vines cool. As summer progresses, the ground forms micro-cracks, allowing the roots to seek water deeper and deeper into the earth; as they do, they pick up minerals that give the vineyard its distinctive characteristics. A single estate vineyard and 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Cooperage
Hundred Acre wines are aged for a minimum of 30 months in the finest, center-cut French oak barrique. The stave wood is hand-selected for ultra-tight grain, then air dried for three years before being made into barrels.