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Dalla Valle Maya 2020

  • Decanter
    99 Points
  • The Wine Independent
    97 Points
  • Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
    97 Points
  • Jeb Dunnuck
    96 Points
  • James Suckling
    96 Points
Dalla Valle Maya 2020
  • Decanter
    99 Points
  • The Wine Independent
    97 Points
  • Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
    97 Points
  • Jeb Dunnuck
    96 Points
  • James Suckling
    96 Points
Dalla Valle Maya 2020
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Dalla Valle Maya 2020

SKU: DAVM202010 UCAU
10-15 Years
Regular price $1,375.00 / bottle
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The 2020 Maya exudes confidence and elegance from the first sip, it is a classic Maya blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc, the core coming from “Maya’s Vineyard”.

99 Points ; Decater

An exquisite symphony of frankincense, clove, and cedar jump from the glass in the beginning, then subtle fruit notes of rainier cherries and lingonberries meld together both on the nose and continue on the palate.

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Dalla Valle Maya 2020

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Tasting Notes

2020 was a remarkable year to make wine. Our team showed tenacity and strength with every obstacle that was presented throughout the year, and the dedication to the craft shows in the 2020 wines. The growing season commenced with dry conditions and a relatively warm spring awakening an early budbreak and rapid growth. Summer slowed with classic cool Napa evenings and warm days. August accelerated ripening leading to an early harvest of beautiful fruit.

Nuanced, powerful, juicy, with liquorice root, black tea and cocoa bean wrapped around blueberry and blackcurrant fruits. Hard not to love this, rippled through with character, and has a graceful, elegant edge to it that shows what was possible in Napa in 2020.The classic silky yet firm tannins leave a prolonged weight leading to a long finish.

Critic Scores

Fragrant and so scented on the nose, inviting and cool. The classic blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc is smooth and supple on the palate, crisp and crunchy yet smooth and silky and also slightly chewy and bouncy. A lovey combination of power and focus, this has drive and sculpt, nuance and detail. Excellent presentation, really fills the palate with juice, energy brightness. Lovely length and overall structure, fels well worked, full but not overpowering, rich but not overly alcoholic - a wonderful presentation and totally delicious. Winemakers Naoko Dalla Valle and Andy Erickson.

The 2020 Maya, 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-purple in color. Scents of warm cassis, black raspberries, and mulberries leap from the glass with wafts of rose oil, menthol, dark chocolate, and sandalwood. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated, and impactful, the palate offers spicy black and red berry layers with a ripe, grainy texture and long, mineral-laced finish.

Perhaps there's a subtle added touch of leafy complexity to the 2020 Maya that the Cabernet Sauvignon doesn't show, but otherwise, this 60-40 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc is reasonably similar, with black cherries, dark loamy notes, hints of cassis, cedar and vanilla. It's medium to full-bodied, richly textured and tannic but with a slightly open-knit feel and a ripe, softly wooly finish.

Even better, the 2020 Maya Proprietary Red Wine checks in as the usual blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc, and it's another full-bodied example of this cuvée that has a brilliant core of both red and black fruits as well as dark chocolate, leafy tobacco, spring flowers, and a kiss of chalky minerality. Structured, concentrated, and perfectly balanced, it doesn't get any better in 2020.

Subtle yet transparent blackberry, black licorice and cassis bush. Some sage and lavender as well. Graphite, too. Full-bodied, yet tight and poised on the palate, with tight and refined tannins that are compact in the mouth. They are layered and run vertically down the wine. Turns nicely austere at the end. Very well done for the vintage. Give this three to four years to open up.

Vinification & Cultivation

Crafted only for our premium wines

Vineyard Cultivation

Dalla Valle Vineyards sits on the eastern hills of Oakville in Napa Valley, established by Gustav and Naoko Dalla Valle in the mid-1980s. Maya, the estate's flagship, is grown chiefly on 'Maya's Vineyard', a hillside block of volcanic, iron-rich, well-drained soils that yields small, intensely flavoured Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Steep, warm, sun-exposed slopes and low vigour give concentration and firm structure. In 2020 the growing season began with dry conditions and a warm spring prompting early budbreak and rapid growth, followed by cool Napa nights and warm days; an August heat spell accelerated ripening and brought an early harvest of clean, fully ripe fruit picked selectively before later wildfire smoke risk.

Vinification

The 2020 Maya is a classic blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc, the core from Maya's Vineyard. Fruit was hand-harvested and sorted, fermented with careful extraction to build the wine's structure while retaining the elegance and freshness the estate seeks. Malolactic fermentation followed, and the wine was matured in French oak barriques, with a substantial proportion of new wood typical for the cuvee, over an extended élevage to integrate tannin. The style targets power balanced by focus – silky yet firm tannin, cassis, dark berry and floral perfume, and a long, mineral-inflected finish. Exact new-oak percentage and time in barrel for 2020 would need confirmation.

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