Winemaker Notes
Blend: 82.3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13.0% Merlot, 3.4% Petit Verdot, 1.1% Malbec, 0.2% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon. It epitomizes the Napa quality of power married to finesse. Winemaker Ted Edwards deserves kudos for producing a high-production Cabernet (34,000 cases) this good, from a difficult vintage. It’s dry and balanced, with rich, complex blackberry, sage and sweet oak flavors.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The backward, Bordeaux-inspired 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder reveals sweet black currant, oak, forest floor and underbrush characteristics. Full-bodied with terrific ripeness and richness as well as a long finish with moderately high tannins.
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.