Winemaker Notes
Blend: 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Starting with the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon released under the Napa Valley AVA, this blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Petit Verdot and the rest Malbec gives up forward, ripe, incredibly sexy style in its ripe black and blue fruits, violets, and graphite aromas and flavors. Possessing terrific purity of fruit, ripe, polished tannin, and a boatload of sweet fruit, it’s a no-brainer wine that will keep for 15-20 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon with 11% Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley shows an inky purple-black color and a crème de cassis, sautéed herbs, black soil, licorice and chargrill nose. Very big, full and high-octane in the mouth with firm, chewy tannins, it finishes long and warming.
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James Suckling
Blackcurrant compote, dark plums, morello cherries and tar and licorice. Full-bodied and ripe, but the structured tannins that give this form, pulling it together with some fresh acidity.
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.