Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Wow! I can’t say I underrated this wine, but, boy, it is pushing perfection ... and pushing it quickly. A nearly flawless, monumental effort, the 2006 boasts an extraordinary opaque purple color as well as a sumptuous bouquet of spring flowers, licorice, chocolate, toffee, espresso roast and blackberries. This multilayered wine is built like a skyscraper, with terrific intensity, but no heaviness, stunning richness, full body and great purity. With a youthful, voluptuous mouthfeel, it can be drunk now for its extraordinary purity of fruit, but it will not hit its prime for at least a decade. It should keep for three decades.
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Wine Spectator
Aging beautifully, marked by a tight, firm structure and dusty, loamy tannins that provide backbone and muscle, this slowly uncoils to reveal spicy red cherry, raspberry and boysenberry notes that cascade on the finish. Ends with a crushed-rock, gravelly edge and tannins that give the flavors traction. The better of two bottles tasted.
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.