Winemaker Notes
Aromas of coffee beans, black currants and hard herbs like rosemary and thyme. Rich, smooth and silky blackberry coulis with cola soy and lavender. Finish is the classic Rutherford dust flowing into soft powdery
tannins of coco and cinnamon that will resolve over aging. A great example of classic Cabernet Sauvignon that is complex and always compelling.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Morosoli Vineyard comes from a site just beside Scarecrow, in the Rutherford region of Napa. Its deep ruby/plum color is followed by a classic, rich, concentrated Cabernet that has textbook notes of currants, tobacco leaf, crushed rocks/damp earth and white chocolate. Concentrated, black, inky and mineral-laced, it's a seriously concentrated, backward effort that needs short-term cellaring, but is certainly impressive.
Rating: 96+ -
James Suckling
This has lots of cherry and seaweed character and some bark. Full and very dense and layered. A juicy and fruity finish. Tastes like excellent vintages of Scarecrow. So delicious now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very deep purple-black colored, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Missouri Hopper Vineyard delivers intense cassis and wild blueberries with touches of garrigue, Provence herbs and chocolate box, plus a waft of cloves. Medium to full-bodied, rich, opulent and very spicy in the mouth, it features velvety tannins and just enough freshness, finishing long and earthy.
Over thirty years in the making, Amici Cellars is a blend of the old and the new. Preserving its legacy and producing wines of exceptional character is the unwavering commitment of proprietors John Harris and Bob Shepard, who attribute success in large part to the age-old adage “nothing replaces hard work,” but also their intuition and ability to capture the most significant opportunity in a decisive moment.
The turning point was 2009, when after more than 15 years of making wine as a passion project with modest distribution, the two friends fully committed to taking their adventure and turning it into a prestigious Napa Valley winemaking estate. The United States was facing the biggest economic downturn since the 1930s, costly Cabernets no longer flying off shelves, but John and Bob have always trusted in their intuition and a core belief - bottle beautiful, high quality wines that are accessible to enjoy every day and for age-worthy collections.
They have decidedly chosen a talented team, seasoned winemaker Tony Biagi, a Napa Valley veteran with more than 25-years-experience, and associate winemaker Dante West, a rising star whose energy matches his true-to-varietal wines. Together they bring decades of relationships with outstanding growers in the field that, combined with their craftsmanship, creates the best possible capsule of each vineyard site, a combination of the soil, climate and people who farm it.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.