The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota (445 cases) is absolutely magnificent. Opaque black/purple in color, it comes across like a Château Montrose from a great vintage – a very earthy St.-Estèphe-inspired wine with the essence of loamy soil and crushed rocks interwoven with blackberry and cassis fruit. Some oak makes an appearance, but it is pushed to the background by the extravagance and enormous body and extract of this wine of phenomenal intensity. This is a classic Pierre Seillan style of wine meant for 25-40 years of cellaring.

The winemaker behind the Anakota high-elevation mountain vineyard sites in Knights Valley is no other than Pierre Seillan, the Bordelais guru who makes the fabulous wines of Vérité from the same proprietor, the Jackson family. There are two cuvées from various elevations in Knights Valley, the lower elevation called Helena Montana and the higher site, the Helena Dakota. Production of these cuvées ranges from the smallest in 2013, with just over 500 cases of each produced, jumping to 700-800 in 2014 and a whopping 1,000-1,300 in 2012 – the most generous of the three vintages. These are all 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 100% French oak and are meant for long, long-term aging. I would suggest that these may be, potentially, the longest-lived wines being made in Knights Valley, even exceeding the potential age-worthiness of the Peter Michael Les Pavots cuvées that are made in this microclimate on the Sonoma side, but near the Napa County line. Tel. (866) 606-5696; www.anakota.com