Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon is structured, solid, and rich, with layers of depth and complexity. A deep crimson, cranberry red, shimmering color, with vibrant aromas and flavors of intense black cherry, black currant, blackberry, and pomegranate, invite you to sip, savor and indulge. All the fruit is supported by notes of hazelnut, crème brûlée, cinnamon, clove, allspice, and delicate Szechuan peppercorn, from the well-integrated oak character. Multi-layered and dense on the palate, you’ll find ripe, macerated dark berry fruits alongside perfumed violets, finishing with a mouthwatering freshness and a focused persistence. The finish is long, generous, and alluring, with chewy tannins, and just a hint of black licorice and graphite.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A big, solid red with blackcurrant, blackberry and hazelnut character. It’s structured and tightly wound with dense, creamy tannins that provide form and intensity. A little tight at the end. Give it two or three years to open a little more. Try in 2024.
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Wine Spectator
Lushly fruity, featuring waves of plum sauce, blackberry puree and melted black licorice, with requisite energy for balance. The finish is driven by roasted apple wood, sassafras and tar notes. Very solid. Best from 2024.
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.