Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
An explosive style, big, rich, dense and powerful, delivering extracted blackberry, black licorice, mocha, espresso and dried herb flavors, with subtle cedar and spicy incense notes that linger, tightening ever so slightly on the finish. Drink now through 2027. 401 cases made.
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Wine Enthusiast
Big, rich and complex, this is a Cabernet you want to lay down. Tasted in the late Fall of 2013, it’s tannic, oaky and dry, brimming with spectacularly ripe blackberry, cherry and cassis flavors. The alcohol is a bit high, giving the wine some heat, and yet the balance is so good that the wine should easily develop over the next eight years.
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James Suckling
Fresh cherry on the nose with hints of currants. It's full and gentle with fine tannins and a cinnamon aftertaste. Drink or hold.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.