Winemaker Notes
Grand Reserve is a masterful blend of our mountain, ridge, hillside and benchland grapes grown along California's cool coastal appellations. We hand select grapes from our best estate vineyards and then monitor, taste and hand-hold each individual lot throughout the winemaking process. Each lot is kept separate, barrel-aged and handcrafted —boutique winery style. Our winemakers have an unmatched palate of flavors, toast levels and terroir nuances from which they masterfully blend these exemplary rich, deep and complex wines.
This Cabernet has distinct flavors of black currant,
blackberry, blueberry and cassis with enticing
aromas of mocha and nutmeg. Notes of smoke, cedar
and tobacco leaf round out the lingering finish.
—Randy Ullom, Winemaster.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is superb. Dense creme de cassis notes intermixed with fruitcake, coffee bean, and tobacco leaf are found in this fat, fleshy wine, which displays excellent purity, density, and richness. It should drink well for 15 or more years.
90-93 points. -
Wine Enthusiast
Serious Cabernet, rich and complex and full bodied, made from Knights Valley and Alexander Valley fruit, with a few grapes from Atlas Peak and Mount Veeder. Dense and tannic now, but high toned, with waves of black currants, black cherries and oak. A good price for a Cabernet of this quality. Drink now–2012.
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Wine & Spirits
Fresh cherry flavors fill this wine with ample fruit, soft and plush in the middle, juicy in the end. It’s a finely made cabernet with a gentle structure holding all the elements in place. For flank steak.
While Sonoma County is acclaimed—and rightfully so—for its Chardonnays, Pinot Noirs, and Zinfandels, it also produces exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon. Of the region’s 18 American Viticultural Areas, only a handful produce top-notch Cabernet Sauvignon. These appellations include Alexander Valley, Knights Valley, Sonoma Valley and Dry Creek Valley. Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignons made in these appellations can offer a complex array of aromas and flavors. Fruit notes such as blackberry, blackcurrant, cassis, black cherry and raspberry often are accompanied by hints of graphite, dusty earth, cigar box, toast and vanilla. The varietal has a rich history in Sonoma, and some of these Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet-based blends rival the best from Napa Valley.