Winemaker Notes
This wine is rich, ripe, and focused with flavors of sweet black currant and juicy blackberry intermingled with hints of shaved chocolate and tobacco. Delicious flavors framed by toasty oak and silky tannins, meld together throughout the wine’s lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Spiced and cedary on the nose, with dark cherries, plums and hints of cigar box and wet earth. Full-bodied and chewy with a lightly austere, bitter-spice character, yet with juicy fruit underneath.
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Wine Enthusiast
Friendly, fruit forward, and full bodied, this wine retains its balance with supple tannins and length. Cocoa-spiced black fruits poured over with mocha, orange zest, and bitter herbs remain palate filling through the finish of the wine.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.