Maybach Family Vineyards, Materium, Napa Valley, California, 2022

About The Producer
From humble beginnings as a trainee in a German orphanage, Wilhelm Maybach came to invent the high-speed internal combustion engine which led to his creation of the first motorcycle. In 1901, as chief engineer and business partner to Gottlieb Daimler, he designed and built the first Mercedes cars. In later years, Wilhelm's son, Karl Maybach, developed the first high-speed diesel engine and constructed motors for the Zeppelin airships that circled the globe in the 1920's and 30's. In 2002, Daimler AG revitalized the Maybach brand in recognition of the father and son who together played such a monumental role in defining German engineering.

100 years later, the name Maybach remains synonymous with quality at the finest level. The tradition of individuality and craftsmanship established by the Maybach ancestors, the winery continues to honor with with its hand-made wines.

This represents the 15th vintage we’ve been associated with Weitz Vineyard. Crazy, given it feels like just yesterday I met Chris Maybach and he mentioned having access to this site. I knew exactly where he was talking about and though we made a cursory visit to walk the vineyard and discuss the beginning of the project, we were in as soon as we received the offer. A+ fruit like this doesn’t come along very often especially to a brand new project. We’ve run out of superlatives to describe wines from this property. It has been so consistently great throughout the years even with its very distinctive personality. There are a few wines I’m responsible for every year that stand out blind in any line up. Picking wines in that format has never been a strong suit for me but here it’s easy.

Winemaker
Thomas Brown

Grape / Blend
100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Origin
Oakville, Napa Valley, California

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
The vintage as a whole is juicy, fruit forward and generous making it accessible upon release. As we taste these wines, we are also seeing a disconnect between color and palate weight. The hues are best described as medium setting an expectation for the same in terms of impact. The disconnect is obvious early on though as the palates are more layered and structured than the color suggests and that only gets more pronounced as you move up the qualitative ladder. As with all previous years, these wines reflect the vintage in which they were grown.

94 Points - Jeb Dunnuck
My favorite of the 2022s, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Materium has a rocking nose of spicy red and black fruit as well as some spicy oak, graphite, and spring flower nuances. It's nicely balanced, has ripe tannins, good density, and outstanding length.

Product size: 750ml