Winemaker Notes
The flagship Estate Cabernet Sauvignon opens with enticing aromas of wild strawberry and cocoa nib. With exquisite texture and a velvety mouthfeel, this wine offers concentrated flavors of ripe raspberry and a hint of blue fruit with beautiful warm notes of allspice and black pepper. Carrying notes of strawberry balanced with a touch of coffee, the finish is satisfyingly long and perfectly summarizes the diverse flavors found on the Rutherford Estate and Oakville vineyards. This Cabernet Sauvignon is ready to be enjoyed now and will age gracefully over time.
Blend: 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Syrah
Professional Ratings
-
Tasting Panel
Elevated notes of toasty black raspberry, chocolate, and tobacco arise within a luscious mouthfeel alongside dots of white pepper, red beet, and boysenberry jam. Plush tannins impart a tingle of cinnamon on the finish,
-
Wine Enthusiast
. This wine is a standout in the school of plush, velvety and chocolaty Cabernets. A dark color and generous dried-fruit aromas lead to milk and dark chocolate, candied cherries and cream on the palate. A soft blanket of tannins wraps them all up loosely.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot and 2% Syrah, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a solid effort, redolent of black cherries and baking spices, with hints of cinnamon, sage and dusty earth. After spending 20 months in 65% new French oak, it's medium to full-bodied, soft and approachable, a charming, easy-drinking wine to enjoy now and for the next several years.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.