“A wine in the bottle is the accumulation of incalculable little brushstroke nuances. It is the clipping of one cane instead of another, the removal of one cluster over an adjacent one, the timing and the moment of picking, and the deliberation of including 50% of one barrel into a blend. While there are an infinite number of potentialities that come out of small choices, much of it comes down to this: it is intention behind them that matters. Caring so much about every detail influences a wine in such a way and makes it what it is. Being in touch with the process, to be present with each other, each vibration, each experience, each smell, each taste, and each interaction with the small moments, from start to finish, these are nuances that make a difference and make the content of a wine what it is. It is intention for the grander vision. A winemaker has a concept for the final product, sometimes even an unconscious one. It is when we go with our gut and our intuition to make decisions that physical results are achieved.”

Kathryn Carothers

Released in 1992, the Bryant Family Vineyard 100 % Cabernet Sauvignon is grown on our 13-acre estate vineyard on Pritchard Hill. The vineyard climbs from 900 to 1200 feet in elevation as it ascends above the shores of Lake Hennessey. With its various exposures, slopes, aspects, and soils, the complexity of the site yields unusually dynamic wines as a single varietal.

Our Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon captures the core of our hillside estate. Layers of vibrant cassis, black cherry, and black currant interplay with savory infusions of graphite, sage, tapenade and tobacco that unfold in unwavering strata. Texturally, the palate displays profound density and minerality, woven with finessed tannin and backed by a brightness, purity and freshness that transcends to a seemingly endless and pure finish.

Released in 2009, the BETTINA Proprietary Red Wine is a Bordeaux-inspired blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. Sourced from David Abreu’s vineyards, Madrona and Las Posadas, and integrated with Bryant Family Vineyard fruit beginning in 2018, the wine is co-fermented, bringing the skins of one varietal in contact with the juice of another.

2019 BETTINA WINEMAKER NOTES

Embodying a brooding and tensioned energy, our 2016 BETTINA encapsulates the character and essences of the Madrona, Thorevilos and Las Posadas vineyards. Deeply aromatic with notes of blue and black fruits, violets, camphor and crushed rocks, the profile is exquisitely nuanced, persistent and finessed. On the palate, the BETTINA has a fleshiness to seamlessly integrate powerful tannins, which effortlessly and pleasurably manifest into an elongated and smooth finish.

Released in 2007, DB4 celebrates our founder, Don Bryant, and his love of the “4” blocks, which form the heart of our estate vineyard. Young, fresh, and approachable, DB4 can be described as the precocious younger sibling of the wines we produce.

A combination of Bryant, Madrona, Thorevilos and Las Posadas fruit, our 2016 DB4 immediately dances from the glass with aromatics of fresh red and blue fruits, rhubarb and menthol. Very lively and electric, the profile exhibits this freshness and is laced with notes of forest, wet river rocks and a dusting of cocoa. The palate is concentrated, refined and elegant, and gives way to a balanced and polished finish.

Tasting Notes

Composed of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Pritchard Hill estate and aged in 90% new oak, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon is deep garnet-purple colored and has a disarmingly profound red roses and red and black currant nose with wild blueberries and yeast extract accents plus tapenade, tilled soil, subtle exotic spices and pencil shavings and the faintest waft of lavender. The palate is ethereal in its weight with a medium to full-body supported by firm yet perfectly ripe, grainy tannins structuring the tightly wound savory layers and leading to a very long, fragrant earth finish.