Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of blackberries and gun powder with some graphite and black licorice. Tile, too, with some conifer and cedar. Complex and enticing. Full-bodied with polished tannins that build on the palate and coat and caress every millimetre of your mouth. Encompassing and balanced mouth feel. A classic beauty. Really tells where it is from! Great estate red. 600 cases. Try after 2027, but already a joy to taste.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon was aged in French oak, 75% new, and bottled in July 2020. Very deep purple-black in color, it needs a fair bit of swirling to unlock beautifully pure notions of baked plums, blackcurrant pastilles, black raspberries and boysenberries with fragrant suggestions of violets, iron ore, tilled soil, tree bark and wild fungi plus a touch of garrigue. The medium to full-bodied palate is very tightly knit with exquisitely pixilated, very fine tannins and great tension supporting the intense, wonderfully nuanced fruits, finishing very long and very minerally. 616 cases were made.
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.