2021 Hundred Acre Fortunate Son The Warrior Napa Valley

Hundred Acre is one of those estates, where if you are in the know then you know. The quality of the wines made here is almost impossible to describe without using words like ethereal, sublime, and perfection. These highly coveted bottles regularly flirt with perfection. In fact, the ARK bottling has only ever scored outside of the 90s five times in its history, and those all received 100 points. There is only so much praise one place can receive, Hundred Acre no longer pursues critical ratings.

Jayson Woodbridge is the genius behind Hundred Acre since its inception in 1998. Imagine this: In only his second attempt, his wines earned a coveted spot on the Wine Spectator Top 100 list, and between 2002 and 2015, they notched up over twenty perfect 100-point scores from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

Now, fast forward to the resurrection of his Fortunate Son brand. After years of relentless searching for the perfect vineyard plots, Jayson brings us "The Dreamer," "The Diplomat," and "The Warrior." These wines hail from charming, family-owned vineyards, and they're crafted with the utmost care in Hundred Acre's state-of-the-art underground winery.

The Warrior hails from a small heritage site on Oakville’s western side. It is part of Fortunate Son, an overarching project that showcases the heights viticulture can reach when unhampered by compromise, where superior farming practices directly shape the wine's character.

Jayson and Jim Barbour, acclaimed for their two decades of work at Hundred Acre, honour this vineyard’s generational family farmer by applying their time-honed principles and practices.

Crafted using the signature techniques that Jayson applies at Hundred Acre, The Warrior is a single-vineyard, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. While all three Hundred Acre vineyards are in St. Helena and Calistoga, The Warrior represents Jayson's first Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville. On the Mayacamas side of the valley, distinct from the Vaca range that houses the Hundred Acre sites, this wine fully embodies the terroir and grandeur of the region. It elegantly showcases Jayson's skill in producing world-class Cabernet Sauvignon, yielding a dazzling, nuanced wine with incredible depth.

2021 is looking to be one of the vintages of the decade. Vinous Media blessed this year with a 95-98 point score, and said: "Two thousand twenty-one is a fabulous vintage in Napa Valley. That’s the good news. The not so good news is that production is down sharply, 30-50% in many cases. The wines have tremendous energy as well as finesse. In tasting, the 2021s show some of the savory intensity of other drought vintages – 2013 and 2014 come to mind – but with more aromatic explosiveness and greater inner sweetness."

Aging: 24-30 months in French oak barrique.