Winemaker Notes
The deep and meaningful ruby-purple color bodes well for this wonderful wine in a stunning vintage. Ethereal and enchanting, precise and persistent with pastille aromas of crème de cassis, rose oil, and dried violets all waft to the nostrils. Go deeper for cedar, incense, balsam and wood smoke. Indicative of winemaker Jeremy Weintraub's penchant for purity, detail, and above all, sense of place, the high-altitude Viking Estate yields wines that fit perfectly in to Jeremy's ethos. This powerful wine delivers the goods with concentrated black currant, cherry-vanilla overtones followed by mountain pass wild herbs, savory spice-cake, licorice and camp fire. A wine of structure and nuance. Enjoy now for the glories that are joyous vibrant fruit flavors or age 5 years for nuance, finesse, and detail. Drink through 2027.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Very focused dark fruit aromas of elderberry are spiced up by mahogany and crushed but subtle allspice on the nose of this bottling. The palate is firm and tense, carrying red cherry and roasted beef tip flavors, with waves of herb and cocoa that arise alongside an evolving acidity.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Last of the reds, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Viking Estate Vineyard Adelaida District is also all varietal and spent 20 months in 70% new French oak before bottling. It offers more cassis and jammy blackberry as well as lots of toasted spice and chocolate notes, medium to full body, a ripe, rounded, mouthfilling texture, and ripe tannins. It's another beautiful wine that I suspect will benefit from another year or two in bottle and keep for over a decade in cold cellars.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
