Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Beautifully inviting aromas entice one into a world of blueberry, dark cherry and cassis in this layered, luxurious wine. With small amounts of Malbec and Petit Verdot included in the blend, it is soft, supple and sultry on the lengthy palate, with a spicy finish of nutmeg, clove and black pepper.
-
Wine & Spirits
All black-currant energy, this is a sumptuous cabernet with powerful drive to the flavors. Tom Hinde focuses it on fruit from the western benchlands at the Morisoli Vineyard, with a contribution from Lewelling Ranch on the St. Helena bench, aging the wine two years in new French oak barrels. It’s sleek and spicy, savory and warm, the flavors combining notes of roasted mushrooms, organ meats and dark-berried cabernet fruit. As fat and fleshy as it may be, the wine holds its shape through a beautiful finish. A delicious 2017 to decant for a New York strip smothered in wild mushrooms.
-
Wine Spectator
Shows the frankly ripe and forward profile of the vintage, with a bold burst of plum, raspberry and boysenberry puree aromas and flavors. The fruit is a touch soft along the edges, so even the judicious wood treatment intervenes a bit, leaving a brambly, woodsy echo. But there's good energy to accompany the fruit, with lots of extra spice and floral notes. Drink now through 2032.
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.