Winemaker Notes
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Number 9 on Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 2007!
Weaves together a complex array of ripe, rich currant, anise, smoky oak and black cherry. Dense, concentrated and persistent, with great depth and focus, ending with an amazingly long, richly flavored finish. Best from 2008 through 2018.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Rich, well-ripened and in all ways keenly keyed on classic Napa Valley Cabernet fruit, Mondavi's latest reserve bottling shows exceptional depth and fruity stuffing with subtle accents of briar and loam scattered throughout. While its oak is plentiful, it never stands out more than it should, and the wine shows real crafting in its balance of tannins and acid. It may check in at 15.0% alcohol, but it shows little evidence of the fact, and its combination of richness and careful winemaking makes a convincing argument against the all too fashionable whine that high ripeness necessarily begets soulless, second-class wines.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, which mostly comes from To-Kalon, has a relatively small production in this vintage (7,500 cases). The wine has a dense purple color and a wonderful, sweet, almost St.-Julien like nose of licorice, red and black currants, cedar, and spice. Medium to full-bodied, elegant, but authoritatively flavored, this wine is still young, rich, and very fine.
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Wine Enthusiast
One of the ripest, highest alcohol Mondavi Reserve Cabs in memory, this wine is forward in cassis and cherry flavors, and while the tannins are pretty sturdy, it’s sweet and soft enough to drink now. It definitely has the rich mouthfeel you want in a pricey Napa Cab. But it’s young; cellar this one until at least 2010.
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.