The 2017 Aedin is our first release of a wine with a long, transformational elevage. Traditionally, a wine like this would have been labeled as a “riserva”. We call these wines perennial in contrast to the early release “spring ephemeral” bottling. Every year from the beginning we’ve set aside a part of our harvest to explore this terrain. We seek wines with more energy and with more complicated personalities. These wines tend to ferment for longer periods and spend longer time on the skins. They are often more microbial active and have both the need and the possibility for achieving a long and dramatic resolution in barrel. Wines that taste beautiful and complete in the beginning have neither the need nor the possibility of undergoing this process. Aedin is from a steep, cobbled parcel in Scorched Earth Vineyard planted to heirloom clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and historic grapes from the Southwest of France. Today, it is still possible to find wines aged in barrel for four years or longer in Barolo, Brunello, and Rioja but it has become quite rare to find them in other regions. Decades ago this would have been more common with Cabernet in the Napa Valley or Bordeaux but the practice has virtually ceased. Combined with the equally unusual whole cluster fermentation (Cabernet is usually destemmed) this wine offers a window into the past. It has more in common with Brunello and Rioja than with modern Cabernet. The varietal’s characteristic herbaceous and minty perfumed is contained within a patina of spice and aged wood. All overt fruitiness has disappeared and is replaced by a cloud-like density that alludes to its former state as sun-ripened fruit. Everything is given shape by dark, haunting and balsamic acidity.