Winemaker Notes
Pair with braised beef short ribs or dried cherries and Cabernet chutney.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
An absolutely outrageous wine and probably one of the great all-time Cabernet Sauvignons from Sonoma is the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard Sonoma Valley. This is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the relatively recent Moon Mountain AVA, that aged for 27 months in 67% new French and 14 % new American oak. This is a wine of thrilling levels of intensity, with an incredible fragrance of spring flowers, blue fruits, black fruits, especially crème de cassis and blackberry, loamy soil undertones, and a touch of licorice and smoke. The wine is full-bodied, with magnificent fruit intensity and purity, loads of glycerin (15.5% alcohol) and a finish of a good 40+ seconds. This is a great bottle of wine that can still be purchased for less than $100.00, which is increasingly rare in Northern California. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2040.
-
Wine Spectator
An immense wine, deep and rich in extraction, offering bold flavors of dark currant, blackberry, black licorice, mocha, cedar, loamy earth and exotic spices, all carried with ease and grace by the texture. The tannins, though potent, are ripe and woven into the fabric. Best from 2019 through 2032.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Tightly woven and deeply concentrated, this brawny, full-bodied wine from the mighty mountain site boasts expansive tannins. Firm acidity invigorates its spectrum of flavors that range from cherry, marshmallow and clove to forest and tobacco.
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.
Covering the western slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains, facing the city of Sonoma, Moon Mountain District is one of Sonoma’s newest sub-appellations. Here the well-drained, red volcanic and ash soils produce hauntingly intense red wines, mainly from Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties.