Winemaker Notes
Blend: 96.4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3.6% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Loads of blackberry, currant and dark-berry aromas follow through to a full body with chewy tannins and a long ,fine finish. This is very attractive, balanced and delicious now, but will gain from two or three years of cellaring. Try after 2024.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is up-front and approachable, with lush blackberry and cassis fruit as well as tobacco and some graphite notes. Playing in the medium to full-bodied end of the spectrum on the palate, it has velvety yet certainly present tannins, plenty of baby fat, terrific overall balance, and a great finish. Displaying more floral and violet notes with time in the glass, I suspect this beautiful, elegant 2018 will have two decades of longevity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Etude's blended 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley skews toward bench-land vineyards from Rutherford and further south (Oakville, Coombsville). The nose features a gently lifted quality, blackberries and cassis underscored by dark chocolate. Full-bodied and sturdy, framed by firm tannins, this is not a wimpy, generic blend but a rich wine with some aging potential, finishing velvety and long.
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Wine Spectator
A solid, direct Cab, with a core of cassis and dark cherry compote flavors laced liberally with singed cedar and vanilla. Ends with bittersweet cocoa and tobacco notes through the finish. Drink now through 2032.
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Wine & Spirits
Shake this wine vigorously in a decanter to get past its bottling sulfur and you’ll find a bold and juicy cabernet with meaty cherry flavors. Layers of boysenberry and notes of green olive emerge with more air. This is savory and dry, a wine for flank steak.
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.