Wines

94 Points! 1997 was pretty much a textbook great vintage for Napa Cabernet with good yields. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and aged for 22 months in 100% new oak (55% French and 45% American), the 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve Georges de Latour gives a deep garnet-brick color and quite a meaty nose with notions of chargrill and beef drippings over a core of warm cassis, blackberry pie and candied violets plus wafts of Chinese five spice and dried Provence herbs. Medium to full-bodied with 13.8% alcohol, it has a firm, chewy texture and just enough freshness, delivering a great concentration of savory fruit, finishing long and earthy. In a maturity sweet-spot at the moment, now is a good time to drink this vintage, but there’s certainly no rush. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com 2019

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95 Points! There are 3,900 cases of the prodigious 1997 Cardinale, comprised primarily of Cabernet Sauvignon with a tiny dollop of Merlot. The wine has an opaque bluish black/purple color, a knockout nose of black cherry liqueur intermixed with cassis, lead pencil, mineral, and smoky oak. The glorious richness in the mouth is backed up by a full-bodied, opulently-textured, super-extracted wine that is neither heavy nor ponderous. Stunning purity, a fabulous multi-layered impression, and a finish that goes on for nearly a minute make this the most exciting Cardinale to date. For statisticians, this is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot, of which 79% of the grapes came from Napa and 21% from Sonoma. It spent 22 months in 100% new French oak before being bottled with neither fining nor filtration. It tips the scales at 14.2% alcohol. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

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94 Points! The 1997 Dominus, a blend of 86.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 4.5% Merlot, is showing fabulously well. With 14.1% alcohol and a pH that would make many New World oenologists shudder (about 3.95), this wine is a fleshy, silky-textured, opulent wine with a gorgeous nose of roasted herbs, coffee, jammy black cherry and plum-like fruit. Asian spice, licorice, and blackberry and cherry notes with tobacco spice all add to this complex, very involved, yet gorgeously symmetrical Dominus. The wine is medium to full-bodied, very concentrated, and silky-textured. It is gorgeous to drink now, but should age easily for 10-15 years. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

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100 Points! An inky/plum/purple color is accompanied by a stunning bouquet of violets, charcoal, creme de cassis and a hint of toast. Prodigious when it hits the palate with a full-bodied expansiveness, there is not a hard edge to be found in the 1997, only velvety tannins, compelling depth and fruit intensity, and stunning purity. It is a perfect expression of Napa viticulture and wine that should continue to age effortlessly for two decades or more. An ideal warm, dry spring, June and July was followed by a surprisingly cool August that slowed down what looked to be rapid sugar accumulation in the grapes. September's temperatures were average to above average, without any potentially damaging heat spikes. This allowed the harvest to unfurl slowly, with no stress or imminent danger. For many Napa Cabernet Sauvignons, this resulted in one of the top vintages of the nineties. Consumers, observers and wine critics will undoubtedly argue for decades over which vintage of the nineties turned out to be the finest – 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 or 1997. The 1997 Insignia is a 20,000-case blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, with 60% coming from estate vineyards and 40% from growers. The alcohol came in at 13.8%. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com 2013

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93 Points! The powerful, rich 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve displays plenty of classic Cabernet notes of cedar, cassis, new saddle leather, and tobacco offered in a full-bodied, low acid, nearly fully mature style...This quartet of Noon wines all remain powerful, youthful, and impressive. - Robert Parker, June 2009 Learn More

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