Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon

Amid the endless ink spilled, points bestowed, and hype created around Cabernet in Rutherford, it’s easy to lose focus on a simple question: why grow Cabernet Sauvignon? For Frog’s Leap, the answer is clear: When grown with care and made with honesty, Cabernet is capable of the highest expression of terroir in Rutherford.  

Cabernet’s beauty lies in its incredible aromatic range as well as the famous power supplied by its ample tannin and acidity. Our Cabernet seeks to express every element of this aromatic constellation—flavors ranging from black fruit to savory herbs and everywhere in between: dried sage, flowers, pepper, earth, olive, mocha, graphite, tobacco and cedar, with no single aroma seeking to dominate the others. Cabernet Franc helps to both draw out this dynamic varietal character from the Cabernet Sauvignon and add dimension to its power. Its inclusion is a hallmark of our blend.  

We limit our plantings of Cabernet to benchland soils that provide the ideal balance of drainage and soil fertility; less than one-third of our acreage meets our standards for Cabernet. Thirty-one distinct picks across three estate vineyards enable us to take full advantage of the site-to-site expressiveness supplied by our commitment to dry farming. Our expert in-house vineyard team navigates the interplay of sunlight and shade on the grapes that is crucial to preserving natural acidity. In the cellar, moderate extraction and judicious use of new oak complement a balanced, restrained approach to Cabernet that enables it to transcend all the noise around the variety, and simply taste like home.  

Vineyard & Terroir

• Sourced exclusively from estate-grown vineyards on the Rutherford Bench—the western side of Rutherford, Napa Valley—an area renowned since the era of Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards (BV) for producing world-class Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Our Estate vineyards are primarily gravelly benchland soils, excellent for deep vine rooting, drainage, and developing signature “Rutherford Dust”character —a unique, earthy, cocoa-powdered character coined by André Tchelistcheff.
• All our vineyards are dry farming — meaning farmed without supplemental irrigation, which encourages deep roots, limits vigor, and produces flavorful grapes at lower sugars which in turn makes wines of distinctive character and structure.

Winemaking & Technical Details

• John Williams has been crafting Napa Cabernet since the mid-1970s, and is now joined in the cellar by his son, Winemaker Rory Williams. Production Winemaker Pablo Polanco and his daughter, Assistant Winemaker Xochilt Polanco round out the team.
• Frog’s Leap aims to produce classical, ageworthy, old-school style Napa Cabs, avoiding the plush, fruit-forward trends of recent years. In the cellar we favor minimal manipulation: The focus is on expressing site and vintage, not winemaker intervention.

Style & Tasting Notes

• Rutherford Dust defines the wine: an unmistakable earthy, savory, and gently dusty/“cocoa powder” quality layered with black cherry, cassis, and plum.
• Structured tannins, balanced acidity, and a classic profile that promises long aging—our wines are built to last decades.
• Our Estate Cabernet delivers elegance, restraint, and power without excess ripeness or oak.
• Drink now or cellar for 10, 20 or 30 years… the 1989 is currently drinking fine.