Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Fortuna Vineyard is perfection! This extraordinary wine offers up notes of creme de cassis, graphite, truffles, blueberries and blackberries as well as a colossal mouthfeel with no sense of heaviness, layer upon layer of fruit and glycerin, astonishing purity and a finish that lasts 50 seconds. A magnificent effort that should turn out to be one of the great modern classics of Napa Valley, it should age effortlessly for two to three decades.
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Wine Spectator
The aromas of dill, cedar, blackberry and black licorice are intense and vivid, becoming richer, fuller and more expansive on the finish, where the flavors linger around a core of firm, gripping tannins. Drink now through 2028.
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Wine Enthusiast
With a Cabernet this decadently rich and delicious, there's no questioning its immediate appeal or food-friendliness with your best beef and game dishes. It's deliriously ripe and sweet in blackberries, cherries, anise and cocoa, with a wonderfully sweet coating of oak. The question is, will it age? The answer is that the next six years will present no problems. Beyond that, all bets are off.
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.