Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made from Leopoldina (72%), Fortuna (14%) and Amoenus (14%) fruit, the brilliant 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Black Label offers a heavenly display of spring flowers interwoven with blueberry, blackberry and cassis fruit and subtle wood, licorice and lavender in the background. This full-bodied, rich, beautifully pure, textured and complex wine needs another 4-5 years of cellaring, but it should keep for 25-30 years.
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Wine Spectator
Offers full-throttle, bare-fisted Cabernet flavors of blackberry and wild berry, framed by cedary oak and an underlying mix of crushed rock and loamy earth. Should benefit from short-term cellaring. Drink now through 2023.
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.