Winemaker Notes
Blend: 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, which is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 21 months in 70% new French oak, is a small cuvée of just under 400 cases. It is certainly a magnificent wine with an inky purple color and a beautiful nose of blueberry, boysenberry and other black fruits interwoven with white flowers, and backed up by fabulous concentration, a multilayered mouthfeel and tremendous purity. Lots of Cabernet’s classic cassis fruits are present and the new oak component pushed well to the background because of the extravagant concentration and richness. This wine comes from a vineyard slightly higher than the nearby Colgin Estate IX Vineyard, which it backs up to.
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Wine Spectator
Deftly balanced, pure and rich, with a deep, vibrant, focused core of loamy earth—laced blackberry, blueberry, currant, cedary oak, mineral, graphite and anise. Begs for cellaring, as this is extremely young and vibrant. Best from 2019 through 2030.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.