Winemaker Notes
A wine with all the hallmarks of the legendary Cabernets of Rutherford: deep, cassis-currant aromas, the classic notes of Rutherford Dust, earthen flavors of cedar and black olive and a velvety, plush mouthfeel.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Owner/winemaker John Williams was always looking to produce the most accurate and pure Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. When the winery purchased the Rossi Vineyard in 2007, the picture became complete. The 2016 Frog's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon is beautiful, refined, and unmistakable. TASTING NOTES: This wine deftly combines fruit and terroir. Its aromas and flavors of red and black fruit, dust and warm spices should pair it famously with grilled lamb chops accented with fresh mint leaves. (Tasted: January 18, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Decanter
Powerful and rich with luscious blackcurrant compote, wood smoke, cedar and leather. Grippe tannin and wonderfully balanced toasty oak leads to a delightful finish.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.