Winemaker Notes
2013 is the inaugural vintage of the Cab Five and marks the first vintage of our Bordeaux style blend. Guy trialed tested and tasted, tirelessly throughout Sonoma County for years to find the perfect high elevation hillside Cabernet vineyards for our first Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon in 2011. Through this meticulous search, he was able to find mountaintop vineyards in the Rockpile AVA. In 2013 small lots of Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot from Rockpile Ridge became available and Guy leapt at the chance to create a blend with these varieties with the Rockpile Cabernet Sauvignon. Thus was born the Cab 5, named for the 5 grape varieties that comprise this wine. This wine showcases the artistry of blending, highlighting the best in each variety while coming together seamlessly in this blend.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Proprietary Red Cab 5 Rockpile Ridge is a blend of 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Cabernet Franc, 21% Malbec, 8% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot and another winner from Davis Family Vineyards. Beautiful blackberry and cassis fruit, licorice, graphite and flowers all jump from the glass of this inky/purple wine. It is full-bodied, dense, promising, and while approachable now, it should even be better over the next 10-15 years. Bravo!
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Wine Enthusiast
From an appellation better known for Zin, this blend of 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Cabernet Franc, 21% Malbec, 8% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot works well—a study in chocolate-covered blackberry and blueberry with a powerful firmness balanced by moderate acidity.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
High elevation vineyards—800 to 2,100 feet—on well-drained soils of red and brown clay loam, gravel and large rock outcroppings produce low yields of intense, high-quality fruit. Surrounded by Northern Sonoma County and overlapping Dry Creek Valley in its northwest corner, the Rockpile AVA produces some of California most powerful Zinfandel, Petit Sirah, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon based wines.