ZD 'Abacus XXIV' (25th Bottling) Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Winemaker Notes: Abacus, ZD Wines’ legendary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, is a multi-vintage blend that artfully expresses the depth and complexity of a well-aged wine infused with a touch of forward fruit and intensity of a younger wine. It is defined by ZD Wines Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Abacus has maintained its iconic status as one of the most unique, complex, and innovative wines produced today.

The idea for Abacus was born late one evening over 20 years ago on a family retreat while siblings Robert and Brett deLeuze were enjoying older vintages of ZD Cabernet Sauvignon. They had recognized early on at ZD that wines blended from several lots most often surpassed the quality of the individual lots. It was here that they came to the idea of combining multiple vintages to create an ultimate level of complexity using a solerastyle blending technique with ZD’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

ZD’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon has been produced every year since 1992. Each vintage has been 100% Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon blended from the finest lots of the vintage. The wine is aged for three years in the barrel which allows access to the young reserve wines as a blending component to Abacus. Hence, there is always a component of young, fruit forward wine available to infuse into the ever-developing Abacus solera.

The First Bottling of Abacus was released in 1999. It was a blend of seven vintages from 1992-1998 of the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Only 15% of the solera was bottled for the first release and the remaining 85% was returned to barrel for another year of aging. This technique of blending a portion of the younger Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon into the solera each year has resulted in a wine of perpetually increasing complexity.

Abacus, ZD Wines’ legendary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, is a multi-vintage blend that artfully expresses the depth and complexity of a well-aged wine, infused with a touch of forward fruit and the intensity of a younger wine. It is defined by ZD Wines’ Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, which has been produced every year since 1992. The wine is aged for three years in the barrel which allows access to the young reserve wines as a blending component to Abacus. Hence, there is always a component of young, fruit forward wine available to infuse into the ever-developing Abacus solera. The current bottling of Abacus XXIII is a masterful blend of 29 vintages of ZD’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (1992-2020).