2021 Filomena, Cabernet Sauvignon, Massa Estate, Carmel Valley AVA, Monterey County.
The beautifully aromatic, dark purple/garnet and deep 2021 Massa Cabernet Sauvignon from old historic organic vines in the deeper end of Carmel Valley, formerly the Durney vineyard originally planted in 1968, is richly flavored and nicely balanced. The full bodied palate captures the classic essence of this property with a core of blackberry, plum, currant and dark cherry fruits that are supported by fine grained tannins, along with background notes of loamy earth, black olive, a touch of green spice, cedar, minty sage, lilac florals, a hint of leather and lingering creme de cassis. Only 6 barrels were made by Luke Nio of this rarity bottling and it’s priced remarkably well for the quality and nature of this wine, and I love the transparency and low 13.4% alcohol form, which is what I appreciate in modern Cabernet Sauvignon these days. Nio, as he notes, harvested the second week of October, fermented this Massa Cabernet all indigenously and aged it for 30 months in neutral and once-used French oak. I have followed Filomena for many vintages now and highly recommend all of their wines and urge everyone to get on their mailing list, and as a Carmel Valley native I also suggest getting this top notch and age worthy Cabernet!
As I’ve mentioned in my prior reviews, Filomena is a small newer label founded by Luke Nio in 2014 and produces small lot wines from unique vineyard sites throughout Northern and Central California, including this vineyard in the Cachagua part of Carmel Valley. Luke, as the winery notes, is a Bay Area native who spent his formative years in Petaluma, CA. He graduated from Davis in 2011 with a BS in Viticulture and Enology and began working for Kaz Winery in Kenwood, who was making natural wine before it gained the popularity it has today. After working a few harvests domestically and one in New Zealand at Trinity Hill in Hawkes Bay, he settled in as the Cellar Master for Bedrock Wine Co, where he spent close to 7 years. Currently, Nio is the winemaker at Sonoma’s Kivelstadt Cellars and does these small batch offerings with his wife Kat, who is the brains behind the label and is responsable for sales and marketing here at Filomena. Interestingly, Nio also grabbed a block of 100% Malbec from the Massa Estate for a very rare Cahors style wine, instead of blending it in with the Cabernet Sauvignon, which is available direct from Filomena’s website. I really love these wines, especially the unique Saint Laurent red from the Ricci Vineyard in Carneros and Nio’s crisply focused Vermentino from Dry Creek. In recent years, there has been some great stuff coming out of this old Carmel Valley vineyard, but the future is uncertain and hopefully they won’t be the last.
($55 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive