Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Ranch Vineyard is also beautiful, with plenty of red and black currants, toasted spice, graphite, and smoked tobacco-like aromas and flavors. It shows a gravelly, Graves-like smoky, earthy mineral character with time in the glass and is full-bodied, beautifully balanced, has silky tannins, and a great finish. It shows the more streamlined style of the 2017 vintage and is going to evolve gracefully for 15-20 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon has a deep ruby-purple color and scents of warm plums and blackcurrants, graphite, aniseed and cigars. The palate is full-bodied with plush, spicy fruits, ripe and fresh and finishing long.
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.
Home to some of the most sought-after Cabernet Sauvignon in America, Napa Valley’s Oakville district stretches across the center of Napa's valley floor and foothills between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. This AVA is home to the legendary To Kalon Vineyard and Martha's Vineyard, as well as many powerhouse wineries including Screaming Eagle, Silver Oak, Robert Mondavi, Opus One, Far Niente and Groth.
The climate is generally warm and agreeable, resulting in year after year of favorable vintages. Summer days see a gentle tug of war between warmer inland air and the cool air coming in from the San Pablo Bay, creating an ideal environment to grow red varieties. Oakville's diverse soils, namely ancient sea bedrock, clay and gravel, are well-drained, and perfect for high-caliber viticulture.
Cabernet here is often bottled varietally but is also popular in Bordeaux Blends. Oakville wines are known for their silky, sensual textures, structured tannins, dark and brooding fruit and lovely aromatics. These age-worthy and prestigious wines are favored by collectors throughout the world.