Purple Brands Looks to the High-End with Scattered Peaks Napa Cabernet

Photo by Joe Roberts

Hey, remember when we used to go out and stuff like that? Man, that was awesome.

I used to do that. Way, way, way back in March of 2020. Like that time that I caught up with Robert Larson and Joel Aiken at Philadelphia’s Parc restaurant to taste through Joel’s new winemaking project, called Scattered Peaks. That was back when we could all travel, and restaurants were open and stuff like that. Before we spent entire days inside in our pajamas.

In some ways, being able to get together with wine business pals - whether traveling to meet them in Napa, Valley, or them traveling to meet you in Philadelphia - all seems like yesterday, or only about a month ago. In other ways, it feels like 6,422 years ago. Give or take a few thousand years. Anyway, for now, linstead let's talk about wine, along with jumping out of airplanes, surfing, and high-end Rutherford vino from a not-so-bygone era. All of that will make sense in a few minutes, I promise!

Back to the tasting: Over steak, frites, and pre-pandemic wine world gabbing, Robert, Joel and I tasted through some of those aforementioned Scattered Peaks bottlings. Some background: Joel was brought onboard the Scattered Peaks project in 2017 by Derek Benham, the incredibly successful North Coast vintner behind Purple Wine Company (whose brands include Bex, Avalon, Four Vines, and Raeburn).

“I was involved in vineyard sourcing, selecting barrels, the whole lot,” Aiken told me over dinner. Unsurprisingly, those vineyard sources include Rutherford fruit, which happens to be Joel’s specialty. Scattered Peaks is pitched as a passion project, as Benham “didn’t want to be in it just to get scores or make ‘Parker wines'” Aiken noted.

The brand name was chosen as a reflection, in part, on the personalities of Aiken and Benham. “He’s larger than life,” Aiken said, “he jumps out of helicopters on to peaks that he skies down, and is a big surfer.” Hence the Peaks references.

The wines mirror the men: in some ways larger than life, but with Joel’s penchant for weaving Cabernet elegance making things approachable and down-to-earth.

Photo by Joe Roberts

2017 Scattered Peaks Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley)

Sourced from Pope Valley, Gordon Valley, and Round Pound in Rutherford, and balanced between taught structure and broad, powerful fruitiness, this is one of those rare Napa reds that you can enthusiastically recommend even though it’s well under fifty bucks. Dark fruits abound over a juicy, gritty core (think tangy currants and plums). The tannins are ample but mature, long, and smooth. Licorice, cocoa, and anise notes give this good complexity, but at its heart it’s a guilty pleasure of a Cabernet. This one will please those well-versed in Napa reds, but will also appeal to many who just want a delicious glass of wine to unwind with when having dinner.

2017 Scattered Peaks Small Lot Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley)

Cabernet fruit from two vineyards were used in this high-end release: about 56% from Morisoli (in Rutherford), and the remainder from Sage Ridge (located in teh more rugged and higher elevation Howell Mountain, near the esteemed Pritchard Hill). This is tight, focused, and very young. The fruits are all dark and lush, with black cherries and blackcurrants, and the aromatics are herbal, with dried sage, licorice, and even some black olive hints. The dusty, firm tannins are “well-behaved” as Aiken put it. 22 months in French oak give toast and coffee notes, but they’re nowhere near being obnoxious. Where this really makes its mark, however, is in its texture: round, fleshy, and long, without ever feeling unwound.

Ah, the good old days…

Cheers!

Follow me to see more articles like this.

...

Follow