Winemaker Notes
Aside from its tremendous Napa history, the Rutherford site is an obvious choice for Addendum due to the impeccable farming by its established vineyard team. The 1.5 acre Addendum block, planted in the mid-1990s, has very little slope and is thus home to dense clay content, which ensures the grapes’ characteristically big, rounded tannins, depth of character and structure that allows the wines to age for decades as a result. Named for the road along which the vineyard is located, Skellenger Lane Cabernet Sauvignon is best characterized by its intriguing Rutherford dust terroir profile.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Similarly ruby/purple-hued, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Skellenger Lane comes from Rutherford and has a spicy, savory nose of red and black fruits, dried herbs, loamy soil, and smoke tobacco. I love the palate, and it's medium to full-bodied, with wonderful purity, ripe tannins, and that classic 2018 freshness, purity, and focus.
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James Suckling
Baked cherry, crushed blackberry and baking spice on the nose. Full-bodied with firm tannins. Pleasant citrus acidity lifts the dark fruit. Balanced and fresh. Drinkable now, but best after 2024.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.