2020 Stratus ‘White Label’ Cabernet Sauvignon

2020 Stratus Cabernet Sauvignon, White Label

Name: 2020 Stratus ‘White Label’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Brand: Stratus Vineyards
SKU: 1-2499/12
Price: 125.0 CAD
Availability: InStock

The ultimate in terroir, time and intensity

“We couldn’t have made these wines 20 years ago. No one could have,” says Stratus founding winemaker J-L Groux. “This quality level was unimaginable 20 years ago.” “These wines” he refers to are a new echelon at Stratus and bear The Stratus White Label.

The 20-year journey of discovery in our estate vineyard has given us intimate knowledge of each block – each dip and ridge, our mosaic of soils, even each vine. “We’ve learned the microsites, and we understand each one’s synergy with the year’s climate,” explains Groux. With true appreciation for each vine’s individual footprint, Groux, along with winemaker Dean Stoyka, has unlocked the full potential of our grapes.

The Stratus White Label wines are characterized by intensity, complexity and longevity. They reflect both the winemakers’ combined 60 years of experience and their dedication to discovery. “Winemaking simply enhances what nature provides,” says Stoyka, “and by applying our observations and experience, we can optimize nature’s expressiveness by choosing the best parcel/vintage convergence. As such, The White Label wines are theoretically designated at harvest.”

$125.00 CAD

Product variants

Details

Vintage

2020
Body

Full
Region

VQA Niagara-on-the-Lake
Winemaker

J.L. Groux / Dean Stoyka
Alcohol

14.9%
Bottle size

750 mL
Serving temperature

18 °C
Drinking Window

2028 - 2050
Cooperage

801 Days in French Oak | 40% New | 40% Second Fill

Tasting notes

Opaque blue purple hue and intensely aromatic. Instantly very appealing nose of roast coffee bean, black licorice, dark chocolate, blackberry syrup, sous bois, beet root, and iron. The high-quality oak adds a magnificent, sweet bacon fat, and earthy spice note. Also offers portobello earthiness with a top note of mint oil. On the palate, dense and concentrated with plenty of dark fruit coated by gritty, grippy tannins that melt towards the long savoury, herbal finish.

Growing conditions

2020 was a remarkable year for weather and wine in Ontario. Warmer than average winter months led to a cool dry April and May. The approach of summer brought a return of the hot weather with low precipitation and humidity. Similar conditions continued through August with only short, isolated, but intense thunderstorms. While temperatures began to naturally cool, sunshine remained throughout the autumn. The dry, sunny conditions were ideal for the full and complete maturation of grapes and contributed to a smooth harvest. Across the region, unseasonably warm weather delayed the icewine harvest resulting in a loss of tonnage. These temperature conditions postponed picking into the last week of January. While the overall grape crop was low, quality across all varieties was exceptional

"A new premium range from Stratus, the 'White Label' series is the culmination of 20 years of experience getting to know the 55 acres of estate vineyards, say winemakers J.L. Groux and Dean Stoyka, and 2020 was surely the year to launch the series, a "once-in-every fifteen-years-vintage for cabernet sauvignon, accoring to Groux.

"This bottling is from Cabernet Sauvignon "4 block", just below the "ridge" that runs through the estate (only a couple of meters higher than the lowest parts of the vineyard but enough to make a difference), which performs better in warm, dry vintages like 2020. It spent 2 year in barrel, of which about 40% new, and the nose is just starting to come alive, featuring typical black fruit from ripe grapes, and very little vegetal character to be detected, just a touch of evergreen. It's complex and complete, with the oak remarkably well-integrated, and huge, if gentle, tannic freight, but high quality, polished tannins. Length is excellent.

This is a very accomplished wine, arguably J.L. Groux's best cabernet in his long career in Ontario, spanning now almost forty vintages, perhaps one of the best yet in Ontario's History. The magic here is the combination of ripeness and firm acids, which will allow this to age for the long term, comfortable for 20+ years in the cellar. A be paradigm and pinnacle for Ontario Cabernet Sauvignon, one that will be tough to beat (and follow)." - 95 points John Szabo, MS,WineAlign

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2020 Stratus Cabernet Sauvignon, White Label

Details

Vintage

Body

Region

Winemaker

Alcohol

Bottle size

Serving temperature

Drinking Window

Cooperage

Tasting notes

Growing conditions

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