The 2018 Dalla Valle Maya is a rich, full-bodied wine that’s earned top scores, including 100 points from The Wine Advocate. A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc, it’s packed with deep flavors of blueberries, black currants, and hints of spice and earth. With smooth tannins and fresh acidity, it’s already impressive but will age beautifully over the next decade. The 2018 vintage stands out as one of the best in recent years, offering a great mix of complexity and accessibility. The Wine Advocate | RP 100Published: Jan 15, 2021 The very deep garnet-purple colored 2018 Maya is shy and restrained to begin. With swirling, it begins to reveal beguiling notes of fragrant earth, lavender, garrigue and Sichuan pepper, giving way to a core of wild blueberries, boysenberries, black raspberries and black currants plus a hint of iron ore. The palate is full-bodied, revealing itself in slow-releasing layers of black and blue fruits with exhilarating earth and mineral sparks, framed by firm, beautifully ripe tannins and bold freshness, finishing on a persistent ferrous note. As cerebral as it is downright hedonic, this Maya is simply jaw-dropping. Followers of Dalla Valle will want to check out my notes on the brand-new joint venture with Ornellaia Estate in Tuscany: DVO.The other somewhat unusual new release this year is the 2018 MDV. “In 1999 we did a cuvée for auction Napa Valley, made entirely of Cabernet Sauvignon from our Maya vineyard,” Maya said. “The first vintage produced for our clients was 2013, then 2016. We almost never do anything 100%, but I decided to pull out a little 2018 and bottle it separately again this year.”“Collina is an earlier-drinking taste of Dalla Valle—a little more affordable,” Maya commented. “We purchase a small amount of fruit from Oakville Ranch to blend with our own fruit for this label.”Altogether, this was an incredibly strong lineup of 2018s from Dalla Valle, with the Maya label/vineyard's expression of this great vintage absolutely stealing my heart. WOW! James Suckling | JS 98Published: Dec 23, 2020 A polished, full-bodied red with aromas and flavors of blueberry, black cherry, sandalwood and crushed praline. Superb flavor intensity and a creamy texture, supported by firm, velvety tannins. Lingering vanilla notes. Delicious already, but better from 2022. Decanter | D 94Published: Jul 20, 2021Drink: 2024-2037A wonderfully fragranced and well-structured wine. Perfumed florality comes through from the 40% Cabernet Franc in the blend (with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon) alongside ripe red and black fruits and a kick of liquorice spice. Instantly captivating on the palate with a good balance of opulent fruit, herbal savouriness, refreshing acidity and grippy tannins. An excellent food wine but this a little more time before opening.Closure: CorkAlcohol: 14.80%Body: FullOak: OakedGrapes: 40% Cabernet Franc 60% Cabernet Sauvignon Dallavallevineyards.com 60% cabernet sauvignon, 40% cabernet franc,Harvest date: 9th and 16th octoberOak aging: 22 Months, 100% New French OakAs a growing season, 2018 was sensational. From the first cherries in the early spring, to the last apples and pears of the late summer, every fruit and vegetable was intense in flavor, and generous in yield. This always bodes well for the wines from the season. The grapes from our estate vineyard in Oakville developed beautifully all season long, with a slow, steady build in color and aromatics, and a uniform maturing of tannins in the end. The result is a lineup of wines that is distinctive, dense, and highly polished. The rounded edges make the wines accessible in their youth, but the real payoff will come with bottle age, given the massive structure and concentration. The signature blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from our estate in Oakville, Maya is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Both of these varieties thrive on the iron-rich, rocky soils in the eastern hills of Oakville. Our aim is to find the right combination between the “MayaBlock” of Cabernet Sauvignon, which consistently produces the most compelling wine on the estate, with Cabernet Franc growing in adjacent blocks, which adds a new and exciting dimension to the wine. The 2018 vintage fermented and aged without intervention and bottled without filtration. We feel that these low-impact winemaking techniques, along with organic and biodynamic farming practices, bring added life to the wine. The profile of the wine is buttoned-up but complex, showing notes of Bing cherry, clove, pencillead and gravel, in addition to hints of bay leaf and vanilla. The list of descriptors continues to grow with time in the glass, and the intensity on the palate makes it clear that this will go down as one of the vintages of the decade.
