Rombauer Stice Lane Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
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Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
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100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The jury is still out on the St. Helena AVA. Though everyone is confident in this region's quality, time will tell. The 2014 Rombauer Vineyards Stice Vineyard is impressive and begins to tell the story of St. Helena. TASTING NOTES: This a rich and generous Cabernet. Its aromas and flavors of fully-ripened black fruits, savory oak, and a hint of chalkiness make it an excellent pair partner with prime rib. (Tasted: March 22, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Oak and anise notes team up, delivering compelling aromatics, with extracted dark berry, cedary oak and licorice details. Ends with chewy, grippy tannins that hold tight while allowing for enjoyment now. Drink now through 2030. 500 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another single vineyard wine, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Stice Lane emerges from the gravelly, pebbly, former stony river bed in St. Helena. This is a juicy, succulent, lush and hedonistic style of wine with loads of fruit, impressive purity and plenty of blackcurrant and blackberry notes intermixed with some subtle background oak. This quite a fruit bomb – a lush, heady wine that is totally disarming and irresistible. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.
Other Vintages
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Wilfred
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Spectator -
Robert
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Wine &
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James
Suckling
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Wilfred
Wong
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.
St. Helena is in the heart of the Napa Valley, nestled between Calistoga to the north and Rutherford on its southern border. On its western side, the Mayacamas Mountains guard it from the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean; to its east stand the Vaca Mountains. In conjunction, these mountain ranges serve to lock in summer daytime heat. But in the evening, cool air from the San Pablo Bay funnels up through the valley, creating very chilly nights. It isn’t uncommon for temperatures to drop 50 degrees, a shift that promotes a balance of sugar ripeness and acidity in wine grapes.
St. Helena contains a plethora of different soil types in a small area, which have been enhanced over centuries by rain runoff from both mountain ranges. Its vineyards cover a variety of terrain, spreading across the bucolic valley floor and its benchlands.
These ideal topographic and climatic growing conditions easily caught the attention of early winemaking pioneers. In fact, St. Helena is the birthplace of Napa Valley’s commercial wine industry. Dr. Crane founded his cellar in 1859, David Fulton in 1860 and Charles Krug in 1861.
Today there are no less than 400 separate vineyards planted within the 12,000 acres that make up the St. Helena appellation.
Revered most for its red wines based on Bordeaux varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, the St. Helena appellation is also a source of superior Syrah, Zinfandel and Sauvignon blanc.