Winemaker Notes
The color is black-purple, with a brilliance around the edges that hints at brightness and nuance. The aromas are incredibly expressive, with notes of chocolate, sandalwood, and campfire mingling with fresh fruit notes of black currant and huckleberry. The texture of the wine is broad and expansive, with plenty of tannins to help the wine age, but with a polish and focus that makes the wine immediately enjoyable. All of the elements are there, and will certainly evolve in the bottle over many years, even decades.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon MMXIII is composed of Cabernet Sauvignon (86%), Malbec (9%) and Cabernet Franc (5%). Deep garnet-purple in color, it leaps from the glass with vibrant notes of crushed blackcurrants, wild blueberries and ripe blackberries, plus hints of menthol, violets and dark chocolate. The medium to full-bodied palate is jam-packed with juicy black fruits and is wonderfully plush, featuring a lively backbone with loads of spiciness coming through on the long finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon sports a dense purple color as well as a ripe, sexy nose of blackcurrants, chocolate-covered blueberries, graphite, and charcoal. It's rich, full-bodied, and concentrated on the palate, with a touch of firmness in its tannins that will require bottle age. I’m not sure this beauty matches the 2016, but time will tell, and it certainly has lots of character and is a beautiful wine. It might just take more time. Forget bottles for 4-5 years and drink over the following 20-25 years.
Rating: 94(+) -
James Suckling
Blackberries, blueberries, dried herbs, bark, ash and spice box on the nose. It’s full-bodied with plush tannins. Fleshy, compact and polished with a long, chewy finish. Try in 2023.
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.