Barnett Vineyards Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Professional Ratings

• 95 Wine Enthusiast
  This is a tremendous Cabernet Sauvignon, but be warned, it’s so tannic, it makes your tongue curl. That’s what mountain grapes, grown at 2,000 feet with low yields and small berries, do. Such is the core of black currants, however, that aging is not a problem. With its dryness, intensity and overall balance, it should easily negotiate the next decade. Really displays Napa mountain Cab at its best.
• 92 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  From the estate vineyard (planted at a 2,000 foot elevation), the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Rattlesnake Hill exhibits classic aromas of black raspberries, blueberries, and the mountain fruit spectrum, very good acidity, a noticeable wet rock-like minerality, and a powerful core of rich fruit backed up by sweet, ripe, well-integrated tannin. This big wine should age nicely for 15 or more years.
• 92 Connoisseurs' Guide
  The very deep, slightly loamy, distinctly curranty, oak-enriched aromas of this substantial offering are long on keenly defined Cabernet character, and the wine follows up with layered, incisively varietal flavors that, while conveying a fine sense of ripeness, are never heavy or overdone. Big-bodied, yet nicely balanced and already sporting glimmers of suppleness that will become more evident with time, it ends with a note of gruff finishing tannins making the case for at least another five years of patience.