Laurel Glen Counterpoint Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
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Wine
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Wilfred
Wong -
Jeb
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Lovely aromas of plum and dark raspberry. In the mouth, the wine unfolds in layers of spice and anise. The finish is fresh and bright with a focused minerality and tannins that are firm, round and delicious.
Blend: 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Crisply focused in currant, dried herb and cedar, this is a classically structured red that is vibrantly approachable and ample to drink in its youth. With just 30% new French oak, it delivers forested earthiness and high-toned freshness that complement each other well for a very fair price.
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Wine Spectator
Offers a tasty mix of gently mulled blackberry and red currant fruit flavors, laced with subtle herb and iron accents along the way. Judicious toast lets everything knit, keeping a fresh edge through the finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Laurel Glen Counterpoint Cabernet is bold yet subtle, and it is smooth on the palate. Enjoy its aromas and flavors of ripe blackberries with a grilled, well-marbled ribeye. (Tasted: May 11, 2023, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Counterpoint is a classic, elegant, medium-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon with plenty of spicy red and black currant fruits, notes of tobacco, cedarwood, and earth, ripe, moderate tannins, and a fresh, elegant style that will evolve nicely for 10-15 years.
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Wine & Spirits
A gentle vintage of Counterpoint, this estate selection has the warm-cool balance of Sonoma Mountain cabernet. It’s foresty with scents of bay and wild blueberry sweetness. Then the tannins come up to subdue that fruit for now. Give it a year in the cellar, then decant it for lamb chops.
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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.
Defined more by altitude than geographical outline, the Sonoma Mountain appellation occupies elevations between 400 and 1,200 feet on the northern and eastern slopes of the actual Sonoma Mountain and is part of the greater Sonoma Valley appellation. The mountain reaches 2,400 feet; its hills separate the cooling winds of Petaluma Gap from the Sonoma Valley.
On a cooler western flank, Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Syrah enjoy a great deal of success. Vineyards on its warmer, eastern side, interspersed with heavily forested areas, tend to include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Syrah. Given its complexity of topography and mesoclimates, Sonoma Mountain excels with a wide range of grape varieties.