ZD WINES ABACUS XX (TWENTIETH BOTTLING) CABERNET SAUVIGNON

ZD Wines was established in 1969 by former aerospace engineers Norman DeLeuze and Gino Zepponi. They wanted to make wines from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, so they set up the winery in an old barn in Sonoma, and sourced fruit from what is now the Napa Valley side of Carneros. They named the wine ZD, not only to signify the initials of their last names, but also as an acronym for Zero Defects, a term used at the quality control program at their former job at Aerojet.

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 XXIII is a masterful blend of 29 vintages of ZD’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (1992-2020).