Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The most expensive offering, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon is fashioned from the estate’s 22-year-old, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon vines, and is aged in 90% new French oak. It exhibits a dense purple color, sweet blackberry and cassis fruit intermixed with notions of licorice, camphor and toast. Full-bodied, dense, opulent and fleshy, it should drink well for 12-15 years. There is no reason to defer your gratification.
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Wine Enthusiast
A deep color and aromas of toasted baguette, wood smoke and black cherry signal a classic style. The flavors are like dark-chocolate-covered cherries and cranberries. The toasted character of new oak barrels persists from the aroma to the finish, but it’s well complemented by ripe fruit, an impressively tannic texture and lingering finish.
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Wine Spectator
Puts the core fruitiness front and center, with a distinctive mix of wild berry, boysenberry and raspberry that gushes opulently, shaded by creamy, toasty, mocha-laced fruit. Ends with a cascade of flavor. Drink now through 2026.
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.