Winemaker Notes
Having the patience to cellar this wine will reward you in the glass years from now. Serve with simply roasted meat dishes or all by itself to fully enjoy the wine’s complex flavors.
Blend: 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One of the iconic names in Napa Valley and also part of the rich history for quality wine, the Grgich Hills Estate 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville Old Vine (which is not actually defined age-wise on the back label) has a dense purple color. Beautiful cassis fruit cascades over the palate. Without a hard edge, this wine has an opulence and richness that is very much in keeping with the vintage character. This wine has terrific purity and long length. This is a stunning, rich, very seductive Cabernet Sauvignon that is full-bodied and best drunk over the next 10-15 years, although I’m sure that if well stored it will last a lot longer.
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James Suckling
A dense and glorious old vine red with tar, dark berry and mineral character. Full body, soft and round tannins and a flavorful finish. Made from organically grown grapes. Drink now.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Complex and well-built, the 2012 Grgich Hills Yountville Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon has more to offer than many others do from the Napa Valley. This wine offers the excellent purity of the grape variety. Pair it fine aroma and flavors of black fruits, savory spices, and earthy notes with roasted game hens. (Tasted: October 30, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
From vines planted in 1959 on old rootstock, this is an intensely concentrated wine, dense and meaty, with flavors of bouillon, cedar, leather and clove. Lengthy and complex, it offers structure and balance within ripe black fruit seasoned by peppercorn.
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.
One of Napa Valley's most historic sub-appellations, Yountville spreads through some of the valley's ideal cooler sites and enjoys success with a handful of different and significant grape varieties.
Syrah competes strongly with Cabernet Sauvignon here for optimal vineyard real estate followed by Pinot noir, Pinot blanc and Sauvignon blanc.
This sub-AVA of Napa Valley is rich in the history that makes Napa Valley what it is today, and not just for red wines. Moët & Chandon entered the California winemaking business via Yountville in 1973 with the establishment Domaine Chandon. Their goal has always been to produce top quality méthode champenoise sparkling wines.
Christian Moueix, originally responsible for managing Chateau Petrus and La Fleur-Petrus in Pomerol, arrived in Yountville in the early 1980s. He formed a partnership with Rohin Lail and Marcia Smith, inheritors of Napanook vineyard from their father John Daniel of Inglenook in Rutherford. In 1995 Moueix became sole owner of Napanook and chose the name Dominus, which today produces some of Napa’s highest scoring, age-worthy Bordeaux Blends.