Perfection is the ultimate goal for any great winery. For most, it takes decades, or even generations, to achieve—if ever. For Acumen, it took just seven short years until noted wine critic Rich Cook bestowed a perfect 100-point score on Acumen’s 2015 PEAK Edcora Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon in 2019, calling it “a very impressive wine that hearkens back to the early days of the Napa Valley when age-worthy structure and balance were king.” While Acumen was already riding high, early this year, the winery doubled down on its vision of becoming one of Napa Valley’s next great wine estates, when it hired legendary Winemaker Phillip Titus to guide its winemaking. For lovers of great mountain- grown Cabernet, the name Titus may be familiar. For the past 30 years, he has been crafting some of the world’s most coveted mountain wines at Chappellet Vineyard on Pritchard Hill—where he continues to make the wines, in addition to his role at Acumen. “Less than 3 percent of the grapes in California are grown above 1,000 feet, and yet this fruit is the source of so many of the New World’s most iconic wines,” said Diana Schweiger, Acumen’s sales and marketing director.
“Since our founding in 2012, achieving the full potential from our two high- elevation vineyards on Atlas Peak has been our mission. Now, with Phillip’s three decades of wisdom and experience making mountain wines, we have the ideal winemaker to take Acumen to even greater heights.”
The rise of Acumen has been a testament to the vision of its founder, Eric Yuan. Yuan established Acumen with the goal to produce wines of classic balance, beauty and structure. With the help of Viticulturist Garrett Buckland and Acumen’s founding winemaker, the late Denis Malbec, Yuan acquired Acumen’s Attelas and Edcora vineyards high on the slopes of Atlas Peak, where temperatures average 10 degrees cooler than on the valley floor.
Planted in 1992, the Attelas Vineyard was the original ‘home vineyard’ of wine- grower Jan Krupp and predates his famed Stagecoach Vineyard by three years. Edcora Vineyard is a cooler site, 350 feet higher up on the mountain. Together, these two organic-certified vineyards offer a vibrant tapestry of vineyard blocks, with a focus on extraordinary Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot.
Speaking of these sites, Buckland, who has farmed acclaimed vineyards like Araujo and Dalla Valle, and is the past-president of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers Association, said, “Acumen’s estate vineyards will one day be considered among the world’s finest. They are already on the cusp of being Grand Cru-caliber sites.”
To discover the wines from this rising star winery and its stunning Wine Gallery in downtown Napa, visit acumenwine.com.
ACUMEN NAPA VALLEY
1315 First Street, Napa, CA 94559 // acumenwine.com
