NV ZD Wines Cabernet Abacus XXII Edition
VIVINO 4.8
Vintage: NV
Region: California
Country: USA
Winemaker Notes
Abacus, ZD Wines’ legendary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, is a multi-vintage blend that artfully expresses the depth and complexity of a well-aged wine infused with a touch of forward fruit and intensity of a younger wine. It is defined by ZD Wines Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Abacus has maintained its iconic status as one of the most unique, complex, and innovative wines produced today. The idea for Abacus was born late one evening over 20 years ago on a family retreat while siblings Robert and Brett deLeuze were enjoying older vintages of ZD Cabernet Sauvignon. They had recognized early on at ZD that wines blended from several lots most often surpassed the quality of the individual lots. It was here that they came to the idea of combining multiple vintages to create an ultimate level of complexity using a solerastyle blending technique with ZD’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. ZD’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon has been produced every year since 1992. Each vintage has been 100% Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon blended from the finest lots of the vintage. The wine is aged for three years in the barrel which allows access to the young reserve wines as a blending component to Abacus. Hence, there is always a component of young, fruit forward wine available to infuse into the ever-developing Abacus solera. The First Bottling of Abacus was released in 1999. It was a blend of seven vintages from 1992-1998 of the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Only 15% of the solera was bottled for the first release and the remaining 85% was returned to barrel for another year of aging. This technique of blending a portion of the younger Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon into the solera each year has resulted in a wine of perpetually increasing complexity. The current Abacus XXII (Twenty-Second Bottling) is a masterful blend of 28 vintages of ZD’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon including the 1992 through 2019 vintages. Following a tradition of bottling less than 15% of the solera each year ensures that this wine will live on in ZD’s cellar for generations to come.
About Winery
Founded in 1969, ZD Wines is owned and operated by the deLeuze Family. The winery is located in Rutherford, a premium Cabernet Sauvignon growing region in the heart of the Napa Valley. ZD Wines is a family business that is committed to producing world-class wines, farming organically and providing first-class hospitality to guests, all while supporting many charitable efforts locally and throughout the country. They celebrate more than 50 years of winemaking, with the second and third generations of the deLeuze family carrying on the family legacy.
ZD Wines primarily produces three core varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. The current ZD winemaking and vineyard management team have amassed a fantastic base of winemaking and vineyard management knowledge with more than 100 years of combined experience. The winemaking team is comprised of Robert deLeuze (CEO/Director of Winemaking), Chris Pisani (Senior Winemaker), Brandon deLeuze (Winemaker), and Chad McComber (Cellar Master). They combine their winemaking knowledge and use blending as their ultimate winemaking tool to craft wines of quality, consistency and style. Rafael Llamas Sr. (Estate Vineyard Manager) and his son Rafael Llamas Jr. (Hospitality, Garden Curator and Vineyard Assistant), manage ZD’s certified organic estate vineyards at the Rutherford winery, as well as the ZD Carneros Estate in Napa. The winery also maintains long-term grower relationships with vineyards in Napa, Sonoma Carneros, Monterey and Santa Barbara.
Founder Norman deLeuze believed that great wines are made from healthy vines grown in rich, living soils. ZD Wines has an in-depth history of embracing an ecologically sensitive approach to all aspects of their operation. With a focus on producing world-class wines, their certified organic vineyards promote biodiversity using the best technologies of the day, as well as time honored farming methods. The winery and vineyards use solar energy, bio fuels, composting, cover cropping, recycling, water conservation, electric vehicles, and more, to conserve and enhance our planet. ZD’s Rutherford and Carneros Estates have been certified organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and are certified by Fish Friendly Farming, Napa Green Winery and California Certified Sustainable Winegrowing. The winery offers an Eco Vineyard Tour at their Rutherford property where guests walk through the organic certified vineyards and learn firsthand about the winery’s eco practices.
To date, ZD Wines and The deLeuze Family Charitable Foundation have raised more than $1,000,000 to support research lead by Dr. Joseph Tuscano at the UC Davis Cancer Center. In addition to fundraising events, each week the deLeuze family and ZD team deliver healthy snacks to the Napa Valley Boys & Girls Club Teen Center. The deLeuze family also provides an annual $500 grant to each employee to gift to local charities of their choosing.
Pre-Order
Abacus, ZD Wines’ legendary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, is a multi-vintage blend that artfully expresses the depth and complexity of a well-aged wine, infused with a touch of forward fruit and the intensity of a younger wine. It is defined by ZD Wines’ Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, which has been produced every year since 1992. The wine is aged for three years in the barrel which allows access to the young reserve wines as a blending component to Abacus. Hence, there is always a component of young, fruit forward wine available to infuse into the ever-developing Abacus solera. The current bottling of Abacus XXII is a masterful blend of 28 vintages of ZD’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (1992-2019).
The Abacus, an ancient counting device, was chosen as this wine’s namesake. The wine is a “solera style” multiple vintage blend of every ZD Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ever produced. The medallion attached to each bottle depicts an abacus that identifies the first and last vintages in the wine.
The traditional abacus is divided into two parts, with five beads in the lower section and two in the upper section. Each lower bead is worth one unit, and each upper bead is worth five units. The beads are only counted when they are pushed against the crossbar dividing the abacus into its two sections. To read the abacus, which depicts the first and last vintages in the Twenty-Second Bottling of ZD’s Abacus (1992-2019), add the value of the beads above the crossbar to the value below for each row. There is a zero row separating the two dates.
