Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From the red soils near Dalla Valle in the eastern part of the Oakville Corridor, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Materium is a killer wine. It possesses a striking, intense, rocky minerality, an opaque purple color, and deep, beautiful aromas of camphor, spring flowers, blueberries and black raspberry fruit. There is a cool climate character (even though this is not a cool climate viticultural area) as well as superb richness, a full-bodied mouthfeel, great delineation and a mindboggling finish that lasts nearly a full minute. This outrageous Cabernet Sauvignon can be drunk now and over the next 25 years.
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Wine Spectator
A beauty, rich and pure in flavor, structured by firm tannins and acidity and showing a tight focus to the dusty, mineral-tinged dark berry, plum and currant flavors. Ends with fine-grained tannins. A good candidate for cellaring. Drink now through 2028. 595 cases made.
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.