Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon opens with enticing scents of raspberry jam, sweet herbs and spices. There is a centeredness and a poise to the 2009 that give the wine its sense of harmony and total balance. Sweet, floral notes reappear on the engaging finish. As good as this is today, it will only be better in another 2-3 years. This is another fabulous effort from Chimney Rock. The blend is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2024.
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Wine Enthusiast
A very good wine, soft and mellow, with a dry finish despite plenty of sweetly ripe fruit. With raspberry, cherry, red licorice and toasty oak flavors, it’s delicious. Drink soon alongside a steak, possibly topped with a plum-and-berry salsa.
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Wine Spectator
Complex, ripe, firm and vivid dark berry, plum and black cherry fruit is elegant and refined, pure and focused, with just the right backbone. Drink now through 2024.
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.