Winemaker Notes
Night sky in color, this 2022 Reserve Cabernet holds a constellation of aromas, with enticing spice drawer, pastry kitchen, café mocha, and tobacco. Layers of earthy boysenberry fruit notes are threaded with rich, chocolatey aromas that gain grip and depth as velvety tannins carry on through the night.
Blend: 97.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1.8% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Petite Sirah
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Aged for 19 months in 75% French oak barrels, the 2022 Reserve bottling elevates its profile with similar blue fruit and blackberry preserve character, enhanced by more pronounced toasty oak spices. This wine dials up the tannin tension to the maximum, delivering a robust and powerful expression. Muscular and brooding, it boasts intensely saline-laced tannins with a dark chocolate quality. The dark fruit character is more pronounced, with hints of kirsch adding complexity. Everything in this Reserve bottling feels amplified, offering loads of pleasure in 2022. Best paired with hearty braised meats to complement its intensity and structure.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Solid aromatics of darker berries, graphite, leather, and crushed stone emerge from the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it shows a balanced, elegant mouthfeel, nicely polished tannins, and a great finish. Aged 19 months in French oak (75% new), drink over the next 7-9 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Lewis's 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve ratchets up the intensity from the regular bottling, turning the volume up to 11 on the nose of blackberries, cassis and toasty oak. Full-bodied (15.5% alcohol on the label), concentrated and dense, with an almost creamy texture and supple tannins, it lingers easily on the finish, which is a bit clipped by the wine's crisp acids. It's an excellent effort for drinking over the next several years, possibly up to a decade.
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James Suckling
The nose is reserved, with aromas of blackcurrants, violets and dried herbs. The palate is full-bodied and has finely integrated tannins and acidity, with a silky mouthfeel giving notes of dark chocolate, Damson plums and tobacco leaves. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.