Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon C C Ranch Vineyard is deep garnet-purple in color with a nose of warm blackberries and blueberry compote with hints of cedar chest, mocha and baking spices. Medium to full-bodied, it is velvety and elegant with lovely perfume and great persistence.
Rating: 95+ -
Wine Enthusiast
From a site on the eastern edges of the appellation, this wine offers robust aromas of pencil shavings, cedar and dried herb. Black peppercorn, vanilla and black currant flavors make for a savory and fruity palate that is supported by a grip of tannins. Enjoy 2025–2030.
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James Suckling
This has more of that dark fruit character, featuring blackberries, brambles, ivy, licorce, dark chocolate and pressed dried violets. Full body and lots of fruit and mouth-coating tannins, yet this remains driven and fresh up to the chewy finish. Drink in 2020.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Nickel & Nickel turned in a solid performance with its 2015 C.C. Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is a beautiful example of an elegant and well-structured Rutherford Cab. TASTING NOTES: I knew from the beginning that I would like this wine. Its red and black fruits combined with mineral and pencil lead keeps it right in the AVA's sweet spot. The wine's nicely managed tannins should pair it well with a chateaubriand. (Tasted: March 22, 2018, San Francisco, CA USA)
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Wine Spectator
An intensely grapey style, with currant and dark berry flavors that are fresh and vibrant, if presented in a tight, narrow frame. Best from 2019 through 2030.
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.