2024 M.Étain How to say M. Etain (plays audio)

HARVEST NOTES
Vineyard Manager Domenick Bianco:

The 2024 season at the JJ Cohn Estate began with a wet winter. It was not the record rainfall of 2023, but the soils entered the season fully recharged. Pruning began in January, focused on ensuring a healthy balance of shoot caliper and yield potential, setting up the vine for the season. Budbreak came in the first half of April, slightly later than in some years, with no frost events to set it back.

A warm, dry spring moved the season along quickly, and the vineyard came alive with healthy shoot growth. Bloom was on par with an average year, but berry development showed that the warmth of the vintage was pushing us toward an earlier harvest. Deep soil moisture kept irrigation demands low, and canopies filled in fast without intervention. We grew a beautiful cover crop of bell beans, barley, oats, and crimson clover to build organic matter into the soil, as well as pollinator flowers to increase natural predation and boost beneficial insects in the ecosystem. The vineyard was brimming with life well into spring, from insects and songbirds to owls. By early summer we could already tell we were running ahead of average.

Heat during the summer was a defining feature. The valley recorded close to forty days over 100°F across the season, with the hardest run in July, before and through veraison. However, even in this heat, the JJ Cohn vines held up remarkably well, largely due to their maturity. Deep roots and healthy canopies protected fruit quality, and careful irrigation management supported even ripening across the blocks.

Harvest on the estate began on September 11th, and we picked individual blocks as they reached peak ripeness. A mild heat event in early October helped push harvest to a close, finishing by October 3rd. Fruit came off with beautiful color, and yields were balanced across the vineyard.

TASTING NOTES
Winemaker Celia Welch writes of the 2024 M. Étain:

Following a cooler 2023 vintage, our 2024 growing season saw a winter and early spring of abundant rainfall, which shifted into moderate to warm temperatures in April and May, ideal conditions for shoot growth, good canopy formation and a lovely crop of grapes which enjoyed sunny weather for blooming season and beyond. Two punches of warmer temps (low 100s) in early July and again in mid-July were beautifully timed to stress the vines ever so slightly, just enough to transfer their energy into beginning to develop the grape color and flavor. From early August into harvest season, we saw beautifully mild temperatures that allowed us ample time to choose the perfect harvest day for each corner of this legendary vineyard.

The 2024 Monsieur Étain Cabernet Sauvignon captures all of those seasonal nuances. The color is purple-black, and the aromas are intense and complex, ranging from blackberry and cassis to sweet earth, wild cherries, anise, and a hint of black tea. On the palate, the wine is both soft and intense, with bright, crisp acidity surrounding a juicy essence of freshly-gathered wild plums and blueberries. The mid-palate is dense and dark, and the fruit carries throughout, then slowly fades to a sense of mocha, sage, and currants.

The fruit for this wine was grown on the famous JJ Cohn Vineyard in Rutherford, Napa Valley. The grapes for the M. Étain were hand-harvested at night between September 19, 2024 and October 8, 2024. The fruit was destemmed, sorted, transferred to stainless tanks, and fermented in small batches. After fermentation, the wine was pressed, then transferred to age in small French Oak barrels (80% new) for about 20 months. The wine was bottled in April 2026. The final blend is 86% Cabernet, 5% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and 4% Malbec. A total of 1285 cases (12 x 750 ml) were produced.