Winemaker Notes
Aromatically the wine is perfumed with ripe blackberries, roasted coffee beans, anise and a hint of freshly grated nutmeg. On the palate the wine has flavors of blackberries, black cherries, and plums over a bold tannic structure.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Blended with 13% Malbec, 10% Petit Verdot and 1% Merlot and displaying a deep ruby-purple color, the 2019 Rockpile Cabernet Sauvignon Rockpile Ridge Vineyard has broody tar and blackcurrants on the nose to begin, unfolding as it airs in the glass to wafts of lavender and menthol. The full-bodied palate is powerful and grainy, with bright acidity to balance its concentrated fruits, and it finishes long and spicy.
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Wine Enthusiast
From a high-elevation site and blended with 13% Malbec and 10% Petit Verdot, this red is inky dark, with soft, supple and well-integrated tannin and oak. Hints of dried herb, mint and currant are complemented by richer notes of dark chocolate and vanilla.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The lifted confectionary tones of the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Rockpile Ridge Vineyard include baked blackberry, cocoa, and crushed flowers. This translates to the palate, which offers ripe, mouth-filling, plummy fruit as well as sweet berries and fine, dusty tannins.
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.
High elevation vineyards—800 to 2,100 feet—on well-drained soils of red and brown clay loam, gravel and large rock outcroppings produce low yields of intense, high-quality fruit. Surrounded by Northern Sonoma County and overlapping Dry Creek Valley in its northwest corner, the Rockpile AVA produces some of California most powerful Zinfandel, Petit Sirah, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon based wines.