Blend: c.80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc
Production: c.225 cases
Crafted by Bob with his wife Martha McClellan (winemaker at SLOAN ESTATE) at their family Estate, LEVY & McCLELLAN is one of Napa’s A-list ‘closed-door’ wineries, producing ultra-rare wines (just 375 cases annually) exclusively available and winery-direct from Four Corners Wine in the UK.
The duo produces two stunning cuvées from their Estate vineyard located high above Calistoga, both based around a core of Cabernet Sauvignon. The AMPERSAND contains a splash more Merlot in the blend, and tends to be the more expressive early on.
They have an almost almost obsessive focus in the vineyard and winery, with each small lot managed individually, ensuring gentle extraction and barrel fermentation for extremely high-quality, refined tannins. They are one of the only wineries to ferment solely in 225L French oak barrels, using a labour-intensive method of placing each one on rollers to rotate it and gently mix the grapes with the fermenting juice. This process is customised for each individual lot and means it takes 3 to 4 barrels during fermentation to fill just one barrel for the aging of the wine.
