Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Its inky/purple color is followed by scents of pure cr?me de cassis intertwined with licorice, smoke, and cigar tobacco. Sweet tannin forms a backdrop for a wine of admirable texture, intensity, and purity. A tremendous experience to smell and taste, it should be at its peak between 2006-2020.Rating: 95+
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Wine Spectator
Dark-colored, with rich mocha, exotic spice, blackberry, cedar, black cherry and currant aromas, it slowly builds intensity and depth and reveals a tight core of deeply concentrated flavors supported by firm, rich tannins.
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Wine & Spirits
Tough and difficult to taste when first opened, this begins its transformation with a day of air. From black and bitter to a stream of red currants and earth, the wine is still aggressively tannic, but it shows that it could grow up into something extraordinary. Check on it ten years from the vintage, or if you open the bottle now for a steak dinner, decant the morning before you plan to serve it, or perhaps the night before.
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.