Winemaker Notes
This Hess Select Cabernet features grapes from some of the best vineyards in Napa and Lake County that showcases a medium bodied, ruby colored wine with flavors of red raspberry, black cherry followed with spicy notes of currants, anise, cloves, cedar and a touch of vanilla. This wine tastes like Cabernet should.
Dishes incorporating sweet peppers, caramelized onions or roasted Portobello mushrooms, a hearty bacon burger with blue cheese, barbecued shrimp, and mild blue cheeses or cheddar cheese. All these dishes pair well with the Hess Select Cabernet.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This brawny, old-school wine offers potent aromas of tobacco, black olives and wood smoke followed by black-cherry and black-currant flavors that are nicely concentrated. Fine-grained tannins and balanced acidity give it great structure for drinking through at least 2025.
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.
Reaching up California's coastline and into its valleys north of San Francisco, the North Coast AVA includes six counties: Marin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake. While Napa and Sonoma enjoy most of the glory, the rest produce no shortage of quality wines in an intriguing and diverse range of styles.
Climbing up the state's rugged coastline, the chilly Marin County, just above the City and most of Sonoma County, as well as Mendocino County on the far north end of the North Coast successfully grow cool-climate varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and in some spots, Riesling. Inland Lake County, on the other hand, is considerably warmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc produce some impressive wines with affordable price tags.