Winemaker Notes
#100 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
The Morisoli Vineyard was established in 1902 by Swiss-Italian immigrants who settled on Niebaum Lane in the heart of Kutherford. Now cared for by the fourth and fifth generations, this Cabernet Sauvignon is an expression of over a century of hard work. In keeping with the Morisoli tradition, this vineyard continues to be farmed by hand and cultivated with vintage tractors that work the historic Rutherford Dust.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Not yet released, Morisoli's 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon builds on the foundation laid by the 2018, being slightly darker in hue, with more pronounced aromas and flavors. Dried herbs and cedar accent cherry and cassis, adding a note of dark chocolate on the nose, while the palate is medium to full-bodied, framed by sturdy tannins while remaining ripe, smooth and long on the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Beautiful, with a slightly fresher style in its cassis and raspberry fruits intermixed with leafy herbs, chocolate, and graphite, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Morisoli Vineyard is medium to full-bodied, pure, focused, and nicely balanced. It has a beautiful texture, a layered mouthfeel.
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Wine Spectator
This has a fresh, focused core of red currant and black cherry flavors laced with cedar, dusty earth and iron minerality along the way. Fresh, fine-grained and reserved through the finish. Very Rutherford in feel, with the minerality bringing nice precision. Best from 2024 through 2036.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.