Here at Winervana, I use this disclaimer, “Although you will see vintage dates throughout Winervana, I don’t put too much importance on them. Major producers these days strive for a consistent style, year after year, and largely succeed. For instance, when shopping for a particular wine, if you have a choice between a current release and one that’s a few years old, there will certainly be differences in price and the character of the wine. But upon release, those two examples of the same wine are likely to be quite similar.”
To test that position, I acquired a “vertical” of three Brutocao Cabernet Sauvignons. A vertical tasting is simply the same wine from different vintages. These three selections were indeed quite similar. Sourced from Brutocoa’s estate vineyards in Mendocino county, they all were aged 18 months in oak, 50% French and 50% American, and all have an ABV of 14.5% and .69% acidity.
These wines are a deep garnet in the glass. Surprising for Cabernet Sauvignon, they are semi-transparent rather than opaque. They start, predictably, with aromas of dark fruit, particularly blackberry, with hints of cedar. Those dark fruits continue on the palate, but these wines are restrained instead of fruit-forward, perhaps to be expected from a producer with a strong Italian heritage. They have a medium-long finish that features black-tea tannins.
There were subtle differences, however. Nothing that you would notice tasting the wines weeks or even days apart, but they were there. The 2015 had the highest levels of perceived acidity (all three were bottled at .69%) and tannins. Very unforeseen, because the common wisdom is that as a wine ages in the bottle both acidity and tannins become softer, rounder, and more balanced. Go figure. The 2016 was the most integrated of these selections, with well-balanced acidity and tannins, both less demanding of attention than in the 2015. Finally, the 2017 fell between the other two, with slightly more acidity but softer tannins than the 2016.
You can read more about Brutocao here: winervana.com/brutocao-cellars/
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both attended 
learned to drive a tractor before she could drive a car. Following high school, she pursued her higher education in the Agricultural Business program at 
Wilson launched her own winery, LaRue Wines, as well. It is named in honor of her great-grandmother, Veona LaRue Newell, who Wilson has described as inspirational and unique; others have used the adjectives bold, independent, and feisty. Regardless, there was a strong bond between the two. The winery is very much a boutique operation, focusing on small lots of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with total production limited to just 500 cases. Drawing on the cool conditions and remote coastal vineyards of the 
Emmaline Ann is a three-acre vineyard planted in 2001 by owners Wayne and Nancy Hunnicutt, and is named after Nancy’s grandmother. Like the Spivaks, Wilson first met the Hunnicutts in 2007 during her time at Flowers Winery. All of LaRue’s tastings are staged here, as well as the annual LaRue Wines Summer BBQ. This small vineyard faces southwest toward the Pacific Ocean and is frequently enveloped in fog.
was Steve Reynolds, who Martin met by chance at a wine dinner in McAllen, Texas. Martin was particularly interested in one of Reynold’s many ongoing projects, Thirteen Appellations, which began in 2002 when 100 cases were made. The idea behind the label was to create a wine with fruit from all of Napa’s then extant sub-appellations. The thinking was that, “each wine taken individually has its own unique colors, aromas, and flavors, and blending them results in an arguably richer, perhaps more complex wine.” The wines from each sub-appellation are fermented and aged separately – all coming together when the final blend is made. Ultimately Martin acquired Thirteen Appellations, a brand that evolved into Sixteen Appellations. As additional sub-appellations were approved in Napa, further vintages were called Fourteen and then Fifteen Appellations. With the Coombsville sub-appellation finally being added in 2011, the wine is now Sixteen Appellations
became Italics’ winemaker. He was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and originally studied to become a doctor, enrolling in UC Davis’ Pre-Med program at just 15 years old. However, he soon realized that he tended to get woozy at the sight of blood, a definite problem for a doctor. Abandoning that career path, he transferred to the 
and I had always dreamed of being in the wine business,” Wulff reminisced.
There he purchased the 
of wine [at a young age], not because my parents were wine drinkers, but because I was given a microscope when I was 12 years old. I heard 
Mondavi. She began her career at the age of 10 by assisting the lab manager at 