Winemaker Notes
Blend: 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Proprietary Red LMV Salon, which is a proprietary red of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon and 26% Cabernet Franc, is stunning. The Cabernet Franc seems to give this wine a tremendous fragrance, as the opaque purple color offers notes of cedar wood, underbrush, forest floor and spring flowers along with creme de cassis and black cherries. With a full body, ripe texture and moderately high tannins, this wine will benefit from 4-5 years of cellaring and keep 30-35 years.
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James Suckling
Amazing aromas of blackberry, wet tobacco, pistachio and wet bark. Full body with velvety and chewy tannins that are polished and reserved. Long and savory finish. Better in 2020.
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Wine Spectator
Broad and intense, this is rounded at the edges, with caressing tannins that join in rather than challenge. Built for short-term cellaring, as the blackberry, currant, mocha, licorice and dried herb notes are long and persistent. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2019 through 2030.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.