Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon is medium to deep garnet-purple in color and opens with pronounced cassis, blackberry pie and blueberry compote notes with underlying notions of chocolate mint, cedar chest and bay leaves. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is laden with black fruit and herbal flavors, framed by firm, chewy tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing long.
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Wine Enthusiast
Blended with 11% Malbec and 2% Petite Sirah, this wine offers leather saddle and earth aromas on the nose. Generous helpings of oak and tannin give it power on the palate within a framework of briary red- and black-berry flavors.
Editors' Choice
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.
A small and picturesque valley separating Napa Valley on its south border and Alexander Valley to its north, Knights Valley excels in similar varieties as the two aforementioned appellations, namely red Bordeaux varieties and blends, as well as Sauvignon blanc. Originally established by Beringer Vineyards, today several outstanding producers claim acreage here. The circadian cooling effects of the nearby Pacific Ocean create a nighttime respite for vineyards during the hot growing season.