Release Date: October 1, 2010
$450 per bottle (6 bottle maximum)
To Order ABACUS XII please call the winery at
(800) 487-7757 or print and fax an order form.
Abacus is our ultimate Cabernet Sauvignon, combining the best qualities of an aged wine with the best of a youthful wine, together in one sumptuous mouthful. Incredible depth and complexity along with a deep, lingering finish are backed by an intense fruit character.
The concept was born on a de Leuze family retreat, when ZD Winemaster, Robert and his brother, Brett were enjoying a wonderful old Cabernet Sauvignon. They agreed that the deep complexity and subtle nuances that develop in older wines are always accompanied by a loss of fruit. What if there was a way to blend the elegance of an older Cabernet Sauvignon with the intensity of fruit found in a younger wine?
Always eager to accept a challenge, Winemaster Robert deLeuze took on the task of creating such a wine, unlike any other produced in the world. The result is a "solera style" multiple-vintage blend of every ZD Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ever produced, which is held in barrel until bottling.
The first bottling, with the 1992 - 1998 vintages, was released November 1, 1999. Approximately 15% of the total blend was bottled in distinctive custom bottles, totaling 200 cases. The remainder was returned to barrel to await the next infusion of youthful fruit. Prior to the second bottling, the 1999 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was added to the blend. This is the ongoing cycle of the ever-evolving solera; each year Abacus will increase by one vintage, gaining more and more complexity. It truly stands as a legacy to all future ZD winemakers.
The twelfth bottling (1992-2009) will be released in October 2010 and is currently being sold on a pre-sale basis. If you are interested in the opportunity to purchase Abacus, please call (800) 487-7757.
HOW TO READ AN ABACUS
Abacus, an ancient counting device, was chosen as this wine's namesake. The medallion attached to each bottle depicts an abacus that identifies the first and last vintages in the wine. The traditional abacus is divided into two parts, with 5 beads in the lower section and 2 in the upper section. Each lower bead is worth 1 unit, and each upper bead is worth 5 units. The beads only count when they are pushed against the crossbar which divides the abacus into the two sections. To read the abacus above, which depicts the first and last vintages in the first bottling of ZD's Abacus (1992-1998), add the value of the beads above the crossbar to the value below. There is a zero row separating the two vintages.
