2012 Dana Estates Onda Cabernet Sauvignon

Dana Estates was started in 2005 when Hi Sang Lee, a South Korean businessman and wine importer, bought a winery and vineyard in Rutherford, Napa Valley, and started his own label. Lee built an impressive new winery and named his enterprise Dana, which is Sanskrit for “spirit of generosity.” Lee hired Philippe Melka as his winemaker and the label’s first release was the 2005 vintage. The aim is to make world class Cabernet Sauvignon in very limited quantities of 300 to 400 cases annually, though Lee has said he eventually expects to produce up to 2,000 cases a year. Dana makes three single vineyard Cabs from the Helms, Hershey and Lotus Vineyards. It also makes Onda, a mostly Cabernet Sauvignon blend of grapes from the various vineyards.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.