Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Genevieve Janssens blends this sleek cabernet from Mondavi's To-Kalon Vineyard with small contributions from other Oakville bench sites. It's an impressive 2006, with curranty sweetness in the middle of the tannins that makes them feel rich and stony at once. It gains detail with air, the structure firm, massive and finely made. This is an elegant cabernet suited to five or six years of aging.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville reveals more licorice, spice, box, cedar, black cherries, and black currants in its complex, moderately intense aromatics. Full-bodied with outstanding concentration and moderate tannin, it displays the potential to improve for a decade, and last for 15-20 years thereafter.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and stylish, with expansive layers of ripe currant, fresh earth, herb, red plum and black cherry. Full-bodied, gaining depth and structure on the finish. Drink now through 2016.
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.
Home to some of the most sought-after Cabernet Sauvignon in America, Napa Valley’s Oakville district stretches across the center of Napa's valley floor and foothills between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. This AVA is home to the legendary To Kalon Vineyard and Martha's Vineyard, as well as many powerhouse wineries including Screaming Eagle, Silver Oak, Robert Mondavi, Opus One, Far Niente and Groth.
The climate is generally warm and agreeable, resulting in year after year of favorable vintages. Summer days see a gentle tug of war between warmer inland air and the cool air coming in from the San Pablo Bay, creating an ideal environment to grow red varieties. Oakville's diverse soils, namely ancient sea bedrock, clay and gravel, are well-drained, and perfect for high-caliber viticulture.
Cabernet here is often bottled varietally but is also popular in Bordeaux Blends. Oakville wines are known for their silky, sensual textures, structured tannins, dark and brooding fruit and lovely aromatics. These age-worthy and prestigious wines are favored by collectors throughout the world.