Winemaker Notes
Blend: 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petite Sirah
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon was blended with 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc and matured for 18 months in 45% new French oak. It has slowly unfurling scents of cassis, licorice, thyme, mint and floral perfume. The full-bodied palate is packed to the brim with floral fruit, and its new oak spice is well integrated. It has a seamless frame of supple tannins and refreshing acidity and a long, latent finish.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This chunky, chocolaty wine from one of California's oldest wineries is saturated with black fruits, oak spices and fine-grained tannins that give it power and concentration. Excellent ripeness, depth and length bode well for continued aging. Best from 2025.
Editors' Choice -
Tasting Panel
Following remarkably aro matic notes of blackberry and vanilla, pencil lead, tobacco, and anise take a savory lead on the first sip. Sturdy, dusky tannins hold up the body and flavor profile. Espresso and black fruit meet cedar and molasses on an elegant journey.
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.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.