Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a stunning example of modern-day Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. It's soft, complex, smooth and sweet, with a veneer of smoky, caramelized oak coasting the flavors of ripe blackberry, black cherry and crème de cassis. It's really delicious, and made all the more appealing by a fine structure of tannins and acids.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
The biggest, ripest and toughest of the Janzen bunch, and a wine of enormous richness, this extravagant effort is rife with currants and rich oak. It hints here and there at dark soils and roasted herbs with the promise of more complexity to come with age, and its very fleshy, rather muscular build tags it a one that very much needs a wait. A decade may pass before its blunting tannins fully ease, but ease they will, and the wine will continue to grow.
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.
Home to some of the most sought-after Cabernet Sauvignon in America, Napa Valley’s Oakville district stretches across the center of Napa's valley floor and foothills between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. This AVA is home to the legendary To Kalon Vineyard and Martha's Vineyard, as well as many powerhouse wineries including Screaming Eagle, Silver Oak, Robert Mondavi, Opus One, Far Niente and Groth.
The climate is generally warm and agreeable, resulting in year after year of favorable vintages. Summer days see a gentle tug of war between warmer inland air and the cool air coming in from the San Pablo Bay, creating an ideal environment to grow red varieties. Oakville's diverse soils, namely ancient sea bedrock, clay and gravel, are well-drained, and perfect for high-caliber viticulture.
Cabernet here is often bottled varietally but is also popular in Bordeaux Blends. Oakville wines are known for their silky, sensual textures, structured tannins, dark and brooding fruit and lovely aromatics. These age-worthy and prestigious wines are favored by collectors throughout the world.