Winemaker Notes
Grilled or roasted lamb, duck, beef, and game; dishes featuring roasted red peppers or caramelized onions; seasonings of basil, mint or rosemary. Aged, full-flavor cheeses are also complementary.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
I can't wait to taste this in bottle. Bright fruit, with currants and plums on the nose. A powerful and structured palate, with plenty of tannins and a long flavorful finish. This is precise, a combination of the 2006 and 2007.
Barrel Sample: 96-97
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is quite structured. Even with its firm tannins, though, the wine shows gorgeous depth and sheer power. The 2008 isn't a wine with early appeal, but it shows off tons of muscle and sheer depth. Dark fruit, leather, licorice, spices and tar inform the muscular, virile finish. The 2008 will require patience but its explosive personality virtually ensures it will be a rock star in a few years' time. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2028.
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Wine Spectator
Muscular and tightly wound, yet beautifully focused and proportioned, dense and chewy, delivering rich layers of dried currant, blackberry, spice and licorice flavors. Demands cellaring. Best from 2014 through 2028.
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Wine & Spirits
Rich and fragrant, this wine has all the succulent depths of black currant fruit and layers of savory, chocolate-scented tannins that cult cabernets have tried to emulate and perfect. Since 1978, this series of rocky knolls under the Stag's Leap Escarpment have produced one of Napa Valley's signature red wines; the generosity and concentration come naturally. This is a vibrant 2008, one that reaches over the top while staying grounded, earthy and real.
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Wine Enthusiast
Young, tannic and juicy, filled with sweet blackberry, cherry and cassis flavors, and well oaked, having been aged in 100% new French barrels. Those are the raw facts. The wine itself shows the pedigree of this fine estate, and will no doubt pick up bottle nuances over the years.
Cellar Selection
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.