95 Points - Chris Sawyer "Sommelier to the Stars"
This wine very approachable now, and has plenty of depth, structure, and complexity to lay down for another 5-8 years.
Food pairings include hard cheeses, charcuterie, lamb sliders, risotto with wild mushrooms, pan-seared duck with cherry sauce, slow-roasted prime rib, chocolate truffle.
Vintage
The 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet vintage belongs in an echelon with the finest of the past two decades. In terms of weather, "slow" and "easy" were consistent descriptors for this vintage. This calm was met with open arms. Absent of challenges that plagued many of the previous years. Mother Nature allowed an easy walk through this vintage. Everything came in like a parade.
VINTAGE: 2018
VARIETAL: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
APPELLATION: Napa Valley
VINEYARDS: 80% Oakville, 20% Mt. Veeder
AGING: 22 months in 30% New American and French Oak barrels
pH: 3.69
TA: 5.75 g/L
ALCOHOL: 14.2%
All Wines
93 Points
Rich, dark black fruits, blueberries, blackberry bon bons, cassis, fragrant violets, tobacco leaf, and baking spices. Long, plush tannins alongside its dense fruit character. The palate delivers baked berry crisp, black and red fruits, toasted walnuts, brioche and cedar on the finish.
91 Points
Deep garnet-purple color with enticing and fragrant with notes of blackberry pie, Bourbon soaked maraschino cherries, Madagascar vanilla bean, mission figs, graphite, candied walnut, and cedar. Its palate provides big, round chewy tannins, stewed black plums, brambly black fruit, toasted nuts, char, and a touch of dark roast coffee.
90 Points
Black cherry cordial, fresh blackberries, strawberry rhubarb pie, mocha, cedar, dark chocolate, and a hint of graphite on the nose. The palate is bursting with mixed berry compote, blackberry jam, cacao bean, and toasted walnuts on the finish. This wine has great texture that ultimately finishes with round, silky smooth tannins.
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