Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Animo, which is 81.6% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot and Petit Verdot, is even better. This wine shows a more opaque purple color, a sweet nose of blueberry and blackberry liqueur intermixed with licorice, lead pencil shavings and some subtle new oak in the background. It is full-bodied, pure, rich and impressive. A powerful wine, it will be better with 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for 15+ years.
-
James Suckling
The brightness and definition to this wine is impressive. Full body, blueberry, blackberry and floral character. Ultra-fine tannins. Drink now.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Brawny in tannin weight and grip, this tight-knit wine is impressively built and in tune with the vintage and its embrace of strength and complexity. Chalky texture is highlighted in tart mountain cherry, graphite and vanilla laced in clove. Enjoy best 2023–2033.
Cellar Selection
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.
Just northeast of Napa city, Atlas Peak boasts some of Napa Valley’s highest elevation vineyards. Here the intense sunlight coupled with cool, nighttime temperatures produce grapes that are perfectly ripe, balanced and concentrated. The appellation is rich in volcanic soils and excels in the production of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.