Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
A blend of mostly cabernet and merlot, this wine has a sleek evergreen line of savor to complement dark fruit notes of cherries and plums. It’s ripe and sleek, gentle and supple, an elegant red for grilled lamb.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: One of the questions that I often get is, "What is good Napa Valley Cabernet that doesn't cost too much?" With so many of these wines flirting with $100 price point, one cannot be surprised with this question. Apriori Cellar seems to have found the perfect answer. TASTING NOTES: The 2015 Apriori Proprietary Red—a blend of predominately Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from two Napa Valley AVAs—offers excellent black fruit flavors and a firm palate. The wine's sweet tannins should do nicely with a grilled ribeye. (Tasted: March 19, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.