Winemaker Notes
This wine exhibits a deep purple hue, with initial wafts of dark black fruit and cocoa aromas. A rich core of cassis and chocolate excite the palate and the long finish features notes of tobacco and spice. The velvety mouthfeel we consistently seek is very apparent in this bottling. With tannins already well integrated, the wine is drinking exceptionally well now and we expect a long ageing potential.
Blend: 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Sangiovese, 2% Petite Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Sangiovese and 2% Petit Verdot aged for 20 months in new French oak, the 2015 Proprietary Red Wine has a deep garnet-purple color and nose of crème de cassis, baked blackberries and chocolate box with hints of menthol, Chinese five spice and cardamom. Medium to full-bodied, it explodes with gregarious black fruit and exotic spice flavors, with a velvety texture and great freshness, finishing long and lively.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Checking in as a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Sangiovese and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2015 Artful Red Wine offers a fresh, focused, structured style that's going to benefit from short-term cellaring. Possessing pure notes of crème de cassis, blueberries, violets, and graphite, it's medium to full-bodied, focused and straight on the palate, with building tannin. It lacks the suppleness of the 2014s, yet shows the hallmark focus, purity and concentration of the 2015 vintage.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Starting out with a deep and very rich nose and building positively from there, this big, but very well-balanced wine sports a wealth of fully ripe, slightly juicy, black currant fruit with a complexing mix of loamy soil, woodsy spice and lots of sweet oak lending added interest at every stop. Its nicely-fit structural tannins provide just the right amount of tactile grip without being overly abrasive, and, while it is a surprisingly expressive Cabernet given its age, it is not near ready for prime time and guarantees to reward a half-dozen years of patience.
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.