Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon is a terrific value and is 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petit Verdot, and the rest Petite Sirah. It has a Bordeaux-ish bouquet of new saddle leather, cedarwood, tobacco leaf, and smoky black fruits as well as medium body, plenty of fruit, sweet tannins, and a good finish. It’s not going to make old bones, but it has serious character, and I’d happily drink bottles over the coming 4-6 years.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Floral aromas of violet and cherry blossom drop into rich black-cherry and cocoa tones on the nose of this widely available bottling. The palate is juicy in black cherry and blackberry flavors, with accents of oak and cracked pepper, all framed by a chalky texture.
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.
Composed of steep mountain slopes of ancient Salinas River origins at 900 to 1,400 feet in elevation, Santa Margarita Ranch is in the southern portion of the greater Paso Robles AVA.