The 2020 season will be remembered for the dramatic fires and a growing season that was managed in the midst of a global pandemic. With the passage of time and a gradual return to normalcy, we have gained confidence in the wines of the vintage. The 2020 growing season began with a warm, dry winter – we didn't start to see rain and cold weather until the end of March. Summer brought very cool mornings and very warm days with some extreme heat spikes. The build-up to harvest was interrupted by two wildfires: the NLU lightening complex fires started on August 17th and the Glass Fire started on September 27. We harvested as we could between the fires. The low seasonal rain resulted in low yields, small berries and small clusters – which are generally very auspicious for wine quality. In the months that followed harvest, we exchanged information with other producers around the valley, consulted with academics, and invested heavily in an unprecedented regimen of laboratory testing. These all bore out our initial assessment that the location of the ranch had been favorable and a wine from the three blocks included in this blend would meet our standards for pristine aromatics, flavors and quality. While laboratory analysis of our other red wines was generally favorable, we eventually decided the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Dum Spiro Spero would be the only red wine released under the Snowden label from the vintage.