Winemaker Notes
Beautiful cedar aromas with touches of dark chocolate, spices like cinnamon, thyme, paprika lingering on plum, cassis, clay and coconut. On the palate it is fresh but velvety, with the entrance lingering on fine tannins and acidity. Touches of boysenberries, starfruit, cherries, violet and raspberries.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A joint project between consultant winemakers Michel Rolland and Jean Hoefliger. Hoefliger chooses the grapes, harvests and ferments the wine, and Rolland joins for blending sessions. Fruit comes from the Sleeping Lady and Denali vineyards plus a secret site. Lavish aromas of violets, blue fruits and sweet cedar. The palate rides waves of saturated black fruit and brown spices, tethered by fine-grained tannins and savoury baking spice oak notes. 700 cases made in 2019, building great momentum since the first 2010 release.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A collaboration between famed consultants Michel Rolland and Jean Hoefliger, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic, all-American, opulent Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that just about jumps out of the glass with its massive cassis, blueberry, classy oak, spice, and floral aromas and flavors. It brings serious fruit and texture, is full-bodied, has sweet tannins, and no hard edges, all making for an undeniably delicious Cabernet Sauvignon that can be drunk today or cellared for 15-20 years.
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James Suckling
This is beautifully crafted with lots of blue-fruit and sandalwood character, as well as violets. It’s full-bodied, but agile and energetic, with a firm, polished texture on the finish.
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.