Rasa Vineyards Occam's Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
The concept of Rasa Vineyards started with a bottle of 1988 Mouton Rothschild that brothers Pinto and Billo Naravane bought at a shop in Napa Valley. That bottle of wine changed their lives. They call it their epiphany wine. That Mouton inspired them to learn all they could about wine and seriously discuss starting a winery. In 2007, with Pinto’s business plan and Billo working on a degree from the UC Davis Master’s program in Viticulture and Winemaking, the two budding winemakers quit their tech jobs and selected Walla Walla, Washington, as the home of Rasa Vineyards.
They purchased 28 acres in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, just ten miles south of Walla Walla, in an area that would become the Rocks District AVA. Their first two wines won accolades and high ratings in wine publications. In 2017, Billo joined an elite worldwide group of 498 people who have earned the title of ‘Master of Wine’ (or simply: MW).
Rasa sources additional grapes from Eastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon. Their estate bottled wines comes from the original vineyard in Oregon. They also work with other high-quality growers in the region. The Naravanes believe in a strict minimal-interventionist approach to viticulture and winemaking, letting the terroir – the influence of soil, climate, vine, and topography – speak through the wine.
To engage wine drinkers on a personal level, Pinto and Billo have stories behind each of their labels, often named according to themes: Latinate and scientific, musical or poetic, and whimsical.
The 2023 Occam’s Razor Cabernet Sauvignon offers an exceptional quality to price ratio. This wine has a compelling bouquet of cassis, blackberry, black cherry, spice nuances, vanilla, and espresso. The palate is full-bodied with supple tannins and well delineated notes of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, vanilla, cigar tobacco, dark chocolate, and cedar. The wine is deftly balanced between the fruit extract, refreshing acidity, and moderately grippy tannins which leads to a long finish. This is a compelling wine. Drinks well now but will improve over the next 7-9 years.
The wine had a pre-fermentation maceration average of 136 hours and a post-fermentation maceration average of 92 hours. 100% native fermentation. The wine was punched down by hand 2 times each day during macerations and fermentation. All individual wine components, including free run and press fractions, were kept separate until final blending.
The oak profile is 20% new French oak (predominantly from Troncais and Alliers) and 80% neutral French oak.
