Winemaker Notes
The 2011 vintage displays fresh almond, wild strawberry and cassis. The wine has delicate notes of smooth caramel. Polished tannins, dark berries, cocoa and sage accompany a long elegant finish.. We recommend decanting the wine prior to serving, to allow it to develop its full potential. This is especially important when serving young Dominus wines.
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A perfumed and refined nose of rose petal, orange rind, raspberry and coriander flower. This elegant nature continues through the palate, which is lacy and plush, but becomes quite rustic on the finish. Continues to evolve over hours and days, never showing itself the same way twice. Still laying in wait, although perfectly enjoyable now.
Drinking Window 2024 - 2044
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Vinous
The 2011 Dominus is a bold, powerful wine. It opens with a huge bouquet redolent of dried herbs, licorice, spice, tobacco and espresso. Relative to most vintages of Dominus, the 2011 is a bit light, but compared to most wines of the year, it is pretty big! The cool, savory notes that are typical of the year are present, but not dominant, while the 2011 is marked by a distinctly red fruit profile.Rating: 90+
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Wine & Spirits
Christian Moueix and his team at Dominus have experience with rainy vintages in Bordeaux. They also farm a site that is particularly well adapted to draining excess water. So they produced a remarkable 2011, a late vintage challenged by rain close to harvest, It's proof that a challenge met can create something sublime-like this floral, red raspberry-scented vintage of Dominus. It's tense chord of flavor incorporating green herb, tobbacco, casis and raspberry in a lasting harmony. The sophistocated structure suggests it will age with grace, while the gentleness of that structure will make it accessible along the way. A great bottle for lamb.
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James Suckling
Wonderful aromas of tobacco, currant, berry and mineral. Ink and lead pencil. Full body, firm tannins and a fresh finish. Lovely texture and freshness. Not the amazing 2010 but excellent.
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Jeb Dunnuck
the 2011 Dominus is nevertheless a beautiful wine that exhibits a Bordeaux-like style in its darker fruits, foresty, damp earth, and herbal, cedary nuances, medium body, soft, supple mouthfeel, and resolved tannins. This elegant, silky, mature Dominus is in the middle of its prime drinking window and should hold nicely for another decade. It's nowhere near a great vintage for this estate, but it's clearly an outstanding wine, and Bordeaux lovers, as well as old school Napa lovers out there, will find plenty to love.
In the late 1960s, while attending the University of California at Davis, Christian Moueix fell in love with the Napa Valley and its wines. Son of Jean-Pierre Moueix, the famed wine merchant and producer from Libourne, France, Moueix returned home in 1970 to manage the family vineyards, including Chateaux Petrus, La Fleur-Petrus, Trotanoy in Pomerol and Magdelaine in Saint Emilion.
His love of Napa Valley lingered and in 1981, he discovered the historic Napanook vineyard, a 124-acre site west of Yountville that had been the source of fruit for some of the finest Napa Valley wines of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1982, Moueix entered into a partnership to develop the vineyard and, in 1995, became its sole owner. He chose the name 'Dominus' or 'Lord of the Estate' in Latin to underscore his longstanding commitment to stewardship of the land.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
One of Napa Valley's most historic sub-appellations, Yountville spreads through some of the valley's ideal cooler sites and enjoys success with a handful of different and significant grape varieties.
Syrah competes strongly with Cabernet Sauvignon here for optimal vineyard real estate followed by Pinot noir, Pinot blanc and Sauvignon blanc.
This sub-AVA of Napa Valley is rich in the history that makes Napa Valley what it is today, and not just for red wines. Moët & Chandon entered the California winemaking business via Yountville in 1973 with the establishment Domaine Chandon. Their goal has always been to produce top quality méthode champenoise sparkling wines.
Christian Moueix, originally responsible for managing Chateau Petrus and La Fleur-Petrus in Pomerol, arrived in Yountville in the early 1980s. He formed a partnership with Rohin Lail and Marcia Smith, inheritors of Napanook vineyard from their father John Daniel of Inglenook in Rutherford. In 1995 Moueix became sole owner of Napanook and chose the name Dominus, which today produces some of Napa’s highest scoring, age-worthy Bordeaux Blends.