Winemaker Notes
The 2019 Reliquus has a lovely dark nose of black cherry, plum, bay leaf, violets, and pine forest. It is very silky, finessed, and round on the palate, with flavors of black and red cherry, cedar, and aromatic herbs underpinned by velvety tannins and a long finish. This beautifully proportioned wine is drinking well now, yet has the intensity and balance to cellar well.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The second wine of the estate, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Reliquus (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) tastes like a mini-Grace family with its darker currant bud, iron, brambly garrigue, and tobacco-like aromas and flavors. It's softer than the Grand Vin, has medium to full-bodied richness, velvety tannins, and outstanding length. All Cabernet Sauvignon aged 21 months in 70% new oak, I d be thrilled to drink a bottle anytime over the coming 15 years.
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Wine Spectator
An enticing version, with an expressive core of vivid loganberry, mulberry and boysenberry fruit harnessed by cast iron, dried violet and singed alder notes. The long finish shows a deep growl of warm earth as the fruit plays out slowly. Hard to lay off now for its character, but this has some development ahead of it.
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.