Winemaker Notes
Aromas of fresh, French plum with notes of roasted hazelnut are at the core of the bouquet. On the palate, the medium body and soft textures mingle with delicate and refined flavors of dark red fruits and orchard blossoms to offer a seamless finish to this elegant and opulent wine.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is extremely well-crafted with very fine tannins and beautiful fruit. Full body, extremely harmonious and polished. A beautiful wine for the vintage. Classy. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 M by Michael Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon is redolent of plum preserves, blackberry pie and cassis with touches of cedar chest, unsmoked cigars, menthol and tilled soil plus a waft of lilacs. The palate is medium to full-bodied with a solid backbone of firm, grainy tannins, tons of expressive fruit and seamless acid with a long earthy finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a powerfully built, age-worthy wine, robustly concentrated and dense in elements of tobacco, gunpowder, turned earth and leather. Sizable tannins give it additional weight and breadth, as well as structure: a sign of the vintage as well as site. Best 2025–2030.
Cellar Selection -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2015 M by Michael Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon is a masterful wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine has everyone one would want in a high-class, ultra-premium Napa red wine. Its classic black fruit and complementary oak accents in the aromas and flavors are lasting and appealing. (Tasted: September 9, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Quite ripe, featuring showy raspberry puree and blackberry notes melded with melted licorice details and ending with a polished finish. Drink now through 2025.
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.