Winemaker Notes
The 2013 Brothers is a deeply rich wine with complex dark fruit flavors. This Cabernet Sauvignon is voluptuous and bursting with blackberry, plum and wonderful chocolate notes followed by a round and seductive mid-palate and a long lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from the highest elevation (400-1000 feet) is the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Brothers Ridge. It displays blacker fruit, loads of plums, blueberry and blackberry, a deep, full-bodied, mouthfeel, rich, concentrated, moderately high tannin, a nice minerality and plenty of black fruits. These are all well-built and potentially very long-lived wines of 25-30 or more years. This wine needs a good 4-5 years of cellaring.
Rating: 92+
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2013 Rodney Strong Brothers Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the biggest surprises of the year amongst top California Cabernets. New to my radar screen, this wine surpasses many of the tried and true from this AVA. TASTING NOTES: This wine brings plenty of blackberries and oak to the fore. Its palate richness and long finish should pair it well with a Porterhouse steak and a dab of triple crème blue cheese. (Tasted: March 28, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
This 100% varietal wine hails from a site east of Cloverdale, in a warm pocket reaching up to 1,030-feet in elevation. It offers a full-bodied concentration of black cherry, raspberry and clove flavor, with a smooth texture and mild, toasty oak. Chocolate mocha marks 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.
Nearly a northern extension of Napa Valley, Alexander Valley starts just north of the small, Knights Valley, and is just a few minutes drive from the Napa town of Calistoga. It is Sonoma County’s hottest AVA. But the Russian River, which runs through the valley, creates cooler pockets and its soft, alluvial soil is ideal for grape growing, especially Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact, some believe that Alexander Valley Cabernets truly rival the best from Napa Valley and many of the heavy-hitter producers have largely invested here.
In addition to Cabernet Sauvignon, which makes up over 50% of plantings, Merlot and old vine Zinfandel thrive here. Ample, fleshy Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc dominate white wine production. Some old-vine plantings of Grenache have also been discovered and more recent experiments with Sangiovese and Barbera show great promise.