Winemaker Notes
Expansive boysenberry and cocoa aromas leap from the glass as notes of cinnamon and other baking spices, warm berry jam, vanilla and toasted pecans provide the base notes to this complex Cabernet. On the palate, the entry shows dark berry qualities alongside bright, fresh acidity. The fruit is fresh and juicy both at entry and throughout the palate impression, with a closing note of liquid chocolate on the finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Tasting the three most recent vintages of the Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon was not only a privilege, but also an intellectual and hedonistic turn-on. The 2010 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) is a magnificent wine. Full-bodied and opulent with terrific purity, an intriguing, gravelly, wet stone-like minerality, and a sensational perfume, it has a spectacular finish that lasted over 45 seconds, offering up copious quantities of black currants, black cherries, cedar and vanillin. It is one of the superstars of the vintage. It is accessible now because of the sweetness of the tannins, but make no mistake, there is plenty of structure underlying the luxurious fruit levels. It should drink well for 30+ years.
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Wine Spectator
Striking for its elegance and refinement, with pure, rich, supple dark berry, fresh loamy earth, dried herb and cedar flavors. Shows length and persistence. A seductive style that needs time. Best from 2014 through 2025.
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.