Winemaker Notes
Dark red with a hue of purple, Mon Chevalier Cabernet Sauvignon boasts an intense and complex bouquet of red, black and blueberries intermixed with notes of minerals (graphite, wet river rocks) licorice, fresh blond tobacco, and a hint of lavender. Full-bodied, the palate is reminiscent of the nose, with a richly tannic yet round frame and a great intensity. The hillside tannins and classical aromatic complexity create a harmonious ensemble leading to a very long finish. Built to age for decades, this collectible wine opens up after a few years of cellaring.
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot, 2% Malbec, 1% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier comes from the Knights Valley, just north of Napa Valley in the larger Sonoma County, and it always seems to me to have one foot in Napa and one foot in Sonoma. Boasting a similar ruby/purple color (as do all of the releases here), it’s slightly more reserved and stately (knightly, if you will), with building aromas and flavors of blackcurrants, toasted bread, dried violets, baking spices, and loamy earth. These carry to a pure, full-bodied, multi-dimensional Cabernet that’s flawlessly balanced, has ripe yet certainly present tannins, a notable sense of minerality, and a great, great finish. It’s just another incredible wine from Luc Morlet that can be drunk today with ample pleasure or cellared for 20-30 years if, for some reason, you feel the need to delay gratification.
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Vinous
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier is the finest vintage made yet, until the 2019 arrives in this vertical. I especially admire its energy and drive, signatures of this late-ripening, cool year. There's plenty of the volume readers have come to expect here, but also a great deal of nuance too. The 2018 is such a classy wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Mon Chevalier comes from an estate-owned vineyard in the Knights Valley, mainly planted to clone 4. It has a very deep purple-black color, leaping from the glass with gregarious scents of kirsch, black raspberries, cassis and cedar chest, plus nuances of lavender, wild sage and tilled soil. The full-bodied palate is packed with taut, muscular black fruit with a firm backbone of grainy tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing with a lively herbal lift.
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Wine Spectator
Rich, showing a forward-styled core of warm plum sauce and cassis, with toasted vanilla and tobacco notes that flow nicely through the finish.
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.
A small and picturesque valley separating Napa Valley on its south border and Alexander Valley to its north, Knights Valley excels in similar varieties as the two aforementioned appellations, namely red Bordeaux varieties and blends, as well as Sauvignon blanc. Originally established by Beringer Vineyards, today several outstanding producers claim acreage here. The circadian cooling effects of the nearby Pacific Ocean create a nighttime respite for vineyards during the hot growing season.