Search results for: 'napa valley cabernet'

91 Points! A good value from the team of Far Niente, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley checks in as 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and the rest Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc, all of which was raised in 50% new oak. This deep purple-hued, medium to full-bodied effort has pretty cassis and violet aromatics, a round, supple mouthfeel, some building tannins, and outstanding length. It's impeccably made and undeniably delicious. Drink bottles over the coming 7-8 years or so. - Jeb Dunnuck

The finest Bella Union yet! The 2021 vintage was VERY kind to the team at Far Niente..."Bella Union was founded by the partners of Far Niente to specialize in the art of blending Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The cornerstone of the blend is our 25-acre vineyard in Rutherford, along Bella Oaks Lane, a country road that was historically called Bella Union. The vineyard is planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon in well-drained loam, and the vines range from 20 – 30 years of age. Classic varietals of Malbec, Cabernet Franc
and Petite Verdot sourced from select Napa Valley vineyards complete the blend."

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From the winery: Our CRU Cabernet is deeply rooted in the vineyards of St. Helena that surround our estate, with about 60% of the fruit coming from neighboring growers. Each year, we hand-select the balance of the blend from different parts of the valley to layer together a delicious, well-rounded and beautifully balanced wine that expresses the nuance and character of the Napa Valley. Fourteen vineyards play a role in the CRU bottling, including valley floor and mountain Cabernet and Malbec, valley floor Petit Verdot and Merlot, and bench land Cabernet Franc blocks, which all contribute to the juicy approachability and great structure of CRU Cabernet. 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 1% Petite Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec.

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From the winery: The Napa bottling continues to be Caterwaul’s calling card. We’ve had a lot of success (and fun) with this wine, offering a true value driven Cabernet that punches way above its weight. The Napa bottling has allowed us to trial vineyards in all parts of Napa knowing we have a catch all for anything that might not be of single vineyard quality. With Matt’s family holdings in Pope Valley as our high quality base, we’ve been able to grab a few cooler, down valley sites to complement the warmth of his estate. Adding in barrels from my family of consulting clients has helped up quality every year especially in a vintage as good as 2021. The goal is to continue to grow this bottling, while keeping the price reasonable, and use its distribution to expose more people to Caterwaul’s smaller, single site wines. As wine consumers ourselves, it just feels good to offer a wine of this quality at this price. Dark, complex and structured, the 2021 vintage delivers a Cabernet Sauvignon profile that comes from having access to some of the finest vineyards in the Napa Valley. The wine displays a completely opaque, dark purple hue in the glass. Densely layered aromatic notes suggest plum reduction, quince, oolong tea, and cedar bark. The palate experience has an interwoven dark fruit core with lively baker’s chocolate notes that then lean towards brambly red fruit. Notes of blackberry paste, leather and cocoa nib dominate the mid palate while the lengthy finish expresses brighter notes of black raspberry, dark cherry and blueberries. The sleek mouthfeel is framed by finely integrated tannins and a balanced acidity, allowing for immediate enjoyment or a little nap in the cellar. - Thomas Rivers Brown

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94 Points! Blackberry and blueberry aromas with crushed stone. Lavender. Medium body, with velvety tannins. Juicy and crunchy. Serious Napa cabernet although some petite sirah and charbono in the blend as well. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley comes mostly from Rutherford and is an interesting blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Charbono, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah that was brought up in 65% new French oak. It's a terrific wine offering classic currant fruits, some baking chocolate and spicy nuances, medium to full-bodied, ripe tannins, beautiful balance, and outstanding length. California needs more wines like this. Drink this beauty over the coming decade. - Jeb Dunnuck

 

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96 Points! The flagship 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Rubicon checks in as 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Cabernet Franc, and there are close to 4,000 cases produced. This deep purple-hued beauty boasts a stunning nose of blackcurrants, tobacco leaf, cedarwood, and lead pencil shavings as well as even a hint of iron. These carry to a full-bodied 2016 that has terrific dept of fruit, solid mid-palate concentration, building tannins, and a great finish. This is a classic, ageworthy Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that will benefit from 7-8 years of bottle age and keep for 3 decades. - Jeb Dunnuck Learn More

95 Points! Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon tumbles out with plum preserves, blackcurrant cordial, and stewed blackberries notes with hints of bay leaves, graphite, and fragrant earth. The full-bodied palate is firm and grainy textured, supporting the tight-knit fruit, finishing long with a minty lift. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent

93 Points! A blend of all the vineyards they work with (of which there are seven), the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley sports a deep purple hue to go with classic Napa notes of blue fruits, chocolate, spicy oak, and tobacco. It's full-bodied, opulent, sexy, and undeniably delicious. - Jeb Dunnuck

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100 Points! In 2002 very small yields produced only about 3,000 cases at 14.7% natural alcohol and a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Cabernet Franc. This wine is going from strength to strength since I first tasted it prior to bottling. Now a perfect wine, the incredible perfume of blueberries, black raspberries and cassis, along with white flowers and camphor is extraordinarily fragrant and intense. That is easily matched by the magnificent full-bodied richness and compellingly layered mouthfeel of this wine that is rich, full-bodied and a still youthful vintage that remains capable of another 25-30 years of cellaring. This is a dramatic vintage for Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and it is always fascinating to taste a top winery’s 2001 and 2002 next to each other because they are both such great years. However, the 2002s tend to be the more flamboyant wines, and the 2001s the more structured and broodingly backward. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com, 2016

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98 Points! The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is showing even better than it did last year, which is not unusual when tasting the wines of Todd Anderson and Mac Sawyer. Dense ruby/purple to the rim, with the classic Pauillac-like nose of creme de cassis, cedar wood, a hint of tobacco leaf, and very subtle smoke, the wine displays charcoal and roasted herbs, full-bodied power, wonderfully sweet tannins, and a long, long finish. This is a 20- to 25-year wine that should just get better and better as it ages, but it is accessible enough to drink now. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

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As you hear repeatedly here and elsewhere, great wine starts in the vineyard. This Cabernet came from some important Napa Valley dirt in a great vintage. The fruit in this one might be even more vibrant, and we dare say better than the last one, with a wave of buoyant dark cherry, plum, and black currant coming across the palate like a fastball down the middle. Like the last rendition, this was ‘Mountain grown in the flavor zone’ and wears its terroir proudly. There are flecks of brown spices, coffee, some underlying minerality, and a bit of dark chocolate at the finish. It’s clean, bright, balanced, fruit driven and very Napa.

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92 Points! The estate’s 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is an excellent choice for drinking over the next few years. Juicy dark berries, flowers, mint and cloves all come together nicely in the glass. Today, the 2010 is open and expressive, with soft, silky tannins and tons of near-term appeal, all qualities entry-level Cabernets should have. The 2010 is mostly valley floor fruit, with dollops of Panek, Corona and GIII. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

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95 Points! The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Lewelling Ranch Vineyard is precise, with strikingly beautiful aromatics that make a strong first impression. Beautifully sculpted, gorgeously nuanced, this Cabernet captures the very best qualities of this terrific Napa Valley vintage. Graphite, black currants, scorched earth and polished tannins round things out in style. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

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98-100 Points! The 2019 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon is a barrel sample with a deep garnet-purple color. It needs a little coaxing to unlock pronounced blackcurrant preserves, Black Forest cake and stewed plums scents with hints of star anise, clove oil, unsmoked cigars and tilled soil with a waft of roses. Full-bodied, the palate explodes with vibrant black fruits, framed by wonderfully plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and fragrant. Beautiful! - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

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92 Points! Dunn's 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is loaded with blue and black fruit, grilled herbs, asphalt, melted road tar and smoke. A dark, juicy wine, the 2009 is surprisingly open for a young Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon. In this vintage, Dunn's Lake Vineyard, the last parcel on the property to ripen, accounts for nearly 50% of the blend. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

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97 Points! Taking lots of air to show at its best, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a brilliant, classic, age-worthy wine from this great estate. It certainly shows the more structured, vibrant style of the 2018 vintage with lively acids, yet it has utterly classic Cabernet crème de cassis and almost blue fruits as well as Bordeaux-like notes of lead pencil, cedarwood, tobacco, and assorted floral nuances. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it brings rock-solid intensity, perfectly ripe yet building, firm tannins, and again, the vintage's freshness, purity, and elegance. It reminds me of a top Saint-Julien and classic, old school, structured Cabernet that will reward bottle age. It needs 7-8 years to hit maturity (it's approachable today with a healthy decant), and I have no doubt this will be a 30- to 40-year wine. - Jeb Dunnuck

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95 Points! In 1969, Joe Heitz made a cuvée that was more outstanding than his Napa Cabernet, but not a single-vineyard bottling. In 2018, after the winery was bought by Gaylon Lawrence Jr., the team at Heitz discovered four bottles and decided they should set out to recreate Joe’s experiment. It is the boldest of the bunch: a delicious hedonistic pleasure filled red with excellent balance and teeming with pure dark fruit notes, rich earthen spices, dried purple florals, cedarwood, tobacco, and dark chocolate — a firm acid backbone frames fine-grained tannins. There is plenty of richness, balanced by tension and energy. Lawrence Wine Estates Master Sommelier and CEO Carlton McCoy calls it the ‘uber Napa cuvee’ and the best multi-site expression of Heitz for the vintage. - Decanter Magazine

93 Points! Expressive, with a bold menthol note followed quickly by boysenberry and blackberry compote flavors wrapped in black licorice. The long finish has a tug of earth amid a generally velvety feel, while the menthol note curls around the fruit. Distinctive. Drink now through 2038. - Wine Spectator

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98-100 Points! From a parcel along Silverado Trail that Bevan describes as "super rocky," the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Tench Vineyard offers up a hugely complex, fruit-driven bouquet that blends purple raspberries, black cherries, red raspberries and cassis. It's full-bodied and richly concentrated, with a long, velvety finish. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

98 Points! From one of the top sites in the valley and all Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Tench Vineyard isn't far off the Calixtro cuvée, yet it's more forward and opulent, with savory red and black fruits, notes of iron, dusty earth, leather, and baking spice, full-bodied richness and depth, and ripe yet building, substantial tannins. It offers some up-front charm today, but it’s going to reward 3-4 years of bottle age and should evolve for 25-30 years. This is another serious, age-worthy, incredible wine from Bevan that readers will absolutely love. - Jeb Dunnuck

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94 Points! The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is a gorgeous, rich wine layered with mint, tobacco, spices, cedar and licorice. It shows gorgeous textural depth and tons of aromatic nuances. This is a fabulous wine loaded with class and personality. It isn’t the biggest wine here, but it is exceptionally polished. Wow! - Antonio Galloni, robertparker.com

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94 Points! Expressive and lush nose of creamy berries, dark cherries, vanilla, cassis and sweet oak spices. Full body with fine, creamy tannins. Rich and full of generous creamy berries and an equally demonstrative and dense finish with excellent length. Better from 2025. - JamesSuckling.com

92 Points! Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2020 Chateau Buena Vista Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley gives up notes of stewed black plums, boysenberry preserves, and warm cassis plus hints of dusty soil, potpourri, and spice box. The full-bodied palate delivers plump, juicy black fruits with spicy accents and a plush texture, finishing with a minty lift. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent

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