Winemaker Notes
This is a massive and dense wine, inky in color with cassis, lavender, hints of mint, espresso, and black peppercorn. It exhibits a beautiful dark nose of red, purple and black fruits with savory spice accents and pretty floral notes – sweet peas and flowering thyme. It has a super silky entry with loads of fine espresso tannins, and texture for minutes.
Blend: 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc,1% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A primary beast of a wine, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Ranch Vineyard comes from a great vineyard in Oakville and is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Offering full-bodied richness and an elegant, layered mouthfeel, it has a wonderful bouquet of blue fruits, graphite, crushed rocks, and integrated oak. It has the more elegant style of the 2017 vintage, but it certainly doesn’t come up short on concentration, richness, or length. The vintage doesn’t get much better.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe, fresh and very inviting, with crushed plum and blackberry notes leading the way, showing streaks of singed vanilla, sweet bay leaf and menthol. The ample grip is very fine-grained, melding nicely with the fruit through the finish.
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.
Home to some of the most sought-after Cabernet Sauvignon in America, Napa Valley’s Oakville district stretches across the center of Napa's valley floor and foothills between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. This AVA is home to the legendary To Kalon Vineyard and Martha's Vineyard, as well as many powerhouse wineries including Screaming Eagle, Silver Oak, Robert Mondavi, Opus One, Far Niente and Groth.
The climate is generally warm and agreeable, resulting in year after year of favorable vintages. Summer days see a gentle tug of war between warmer inland air and the cool air coming in from the San Pablo Bay, creating an ideal environment to grow red varieties. Oakville's diverse soils, namely ancient sea bedrock, clay and gravel, are well-drained, and perfect for high-caliber viticulture.
Cabernet here is often bottled varietally but is also popular in Bordeaux Blends. Oakville wines are known for their silky, sensual textures, structured tannins, dark and brooding fruit and lovely aromatics. These age-worthy and prestigious wines are favored by collectors throughout the world.