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Classic Cabernet
Classic Cabernet
7 items in Classic Cabernet
1998 Dunn Napa California (750ml) |
$75.00
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| Robert Parker | |||||
| "The 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa (a composite blend) is highly-extracted, but very light. It obviously reflects the challenges presented by this vintage. Dry tannin in the finish might turn out to be cause for concern, but there is still plenty of cassis fruit in this medium to full-bodied Cabernet, but it is more compressed than usual. Dunn will undoubtedly build more flesh and fruit into it before bottling, but we will have to wait another year to find out. If Godzilla drank California Cabernet Sauvignon, would there be any doubt as to what choice it would be? Anyone who has regularly tasted Randy Dunn's Cabernet Sauvignons (first produced in 1979) realizes several things. They all possess the following characteristics: (1) remarkable color and richness, (2) massive personalities with huge tannic structures, (3) gorgeous purity and unreal aging potential." | |||||
| Wine Spectator | |||||
| "Highly reliant on green, cedary oak for its flavor, this tight, tannic, intense youngster finds enough ripe fruit to counter the wood, with hints of earthy currant, bell pepper, sage and tar. Requires patience." | |||||
| Steve Tanzer's International Wine Cellar 90 | |||||
| Bright ruby-red. Aromas of cassis, licorice, graphite and game. Dense, supple and rich in extract; juicy flavors of cassis and licorice. Offers impressive texture for the vintage, but comes across as distinctly less sweet than the Howell Mountain bottling. Finishes with very good length and ripe, fairly substantial tannins that grew slightly dry with aeration. | |||||
2003 Behrens & Hitchcock, The Heavyweight California (750ml) |
$115.00
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| Robert Parker 93 | |||||
| Speaking of a Heavyweight, the 2003 (50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% equal parts Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc) is a sensational 375-case effort from the Thorevilos Vineyard owned by David Abreu and Ric Foreman. Its dense ruby/purple color is accompanied by an explosive bouquet of black and blue fruits, cedar, and high quality French oak. Boasting tremendous richness, fatness, opulence, and a viscous feel in the mouth, it is a big, in-your-face offering with low acidity, huge fruit, and a blockbuster finish. It should drink well for 10-12 years. | |||||
| Steve Tanzer's International Wine Cellar 91 | |||||
| Ruby-red. Fresh aromas of cassis and violet. Lush and sweet, with enticing flavors of black cherry, violet, licorice and bitter chocolate. Finishes broad and round, with fine tannins. Sexy wine, from Thorvilos and Madrona Ranch fruit. | |||||
2003 Duckhorn Napa Estate California (750ml) |
$77.00
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| Wine Spectator 89-91 | |||||
| Turns up the volume, with spicy, toasty oak and firm, chewy tannins wrapped around a core of spicy currant, blackberry and plum fruit. Fine structure. | |||||
| Wine Enthusiast 92 | |||||
| As always, Duckhorn¿s Cab this year is a very tannic wine. But it¿s a very fine wine, packed with ripe black currant and cassis fruit, and coated with spicy, toasty oak. This firm wine needs long decanting, and should develop well through 2012 or so. | |||||
2003 Ramey Jericho Canyon Vineyard California (750ml) |
$82.00
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| Robert Parker 93 | |||||
| The 2003 Jericho Canyon, from a 40-acre parcel of vines at the base of Mount St. Helena, is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and 3% Cabernet Franc. This is David Ramey¿s homage to Pauillac. With a big sweet nose of white chocolate, creme de cassis, cedar, spice box, and high-quality smoky oak, it is full-bodied, rich, and tannic with notes of chocolate and espresso in the mouth. This wine also needs several years of cellaring and should last 15-20 years. | |||||
| Steve Tanzer's International Wine Cellar 93-96 | |||||
| 87% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot and 3% cabernet franc) Full ruby. Inviting aromas of blackberry and licorice. Offers an exhilarating sweetness in the mouth, with powerful dark fruit flavors lifted and complicated by mineral and floral elements. Magically fresh and light on its feet for such a large-scaled wine, thanks to perfectly integrated acidity. Finishes extremely long, with noble tannins and superb grip. One of the best barrel samples I tasted in March from this vintage. Offers great potential. | |||||
| Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine 94 | |||||
| 10% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Franc. The powerful and seemingly bottomless fruit of this opulent young Cabernet is the stuff of show-stopping success, and the rich oak and complex touches of herbs and earth that are laced through it make a very good thing that much better. A real powerhouse in terms of stuffing and size, the wine successfully balances a scant bit of finishing heat against exceptional extract, and never once does its give in to simple-minded ripeness. There are tannins enough to keep it in fine shape for years to come, and it wants lengthy cellaring to be at its best, but its sense of plushness and its immediate fruit will be tempting. Two Puffs | |||||
2004 B.V. Private Reserve California (750ml) |
$103.00
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| Wine News 92 | |||||
| Aromas of cassis, fresh oak and leather. Intense flavors of cooked cherry and red licorice with a viscous quality. Youthful tannins surface in the finish along with red fruit, pencil shavings and cedar. | |||||
| Wine Enthusiast 95 | |||||
| B.V. Private Reserve has been on a roll. This Georges is enormous and impressive, gigantic in fruit, explosive in blackberry tart, cherry pie, blueberry, plum, cigar box and vanilla aromas and flavors. Structurally, it's an impeccable wine, showing the fine acidity and firm, dusty tannins that always constitute George. Beautiful now, and should age well for 10-20 years. | |||||
| Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine 92 | |||||
| A rich blanket of rooty, slightly briary spice overlies plenty of well-defined, cassis-like fruit in both the deep aromas and nicely filled flavors of this very solid young Cabernet. If not readily showing the dusty spice that so often typifies Beaulieu's Private Reserve bottlings, the wine is nonetheless a fairly classic varietal working with fine continuity, a good bit of flesh and an admirable sense of balance. Its nominal tannins lend spine with-out being abrasive, and there is real promise here for five to ten years of steady improvement. | |||||
2004 Chappellet Pritchard Hill California (750ml) |
$129.00
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| FineWine International | |||||
| The 2004 vintage of the this wine does not disappoint. It's big, but balanced with superb fruit, black currents, cassis and chocolate overtones. The tannins are ripe and fine and the wine has a long and lingering finish. Outstanding in everyway. | |||||
| Wine Spectator 90 | |||||
| Rough-hewn, dense, abundant and chewy, with concentrated, extracted dried currant, mineral and hefty oak and mineral flavors that make this broad-shouldered, framed by potent tannins. Needs lots of time. Best from 2009 through 2018. | |||||
| Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine 92 | |||||
| In its last two outings, Chappellet's Pritchard Hill bottlings have been among the best Cabernet's of the vintage, and, if not quite at the very head of the class in 2004, this wine still conveys an immense measure of well-ripened currants and is infused with lots of very sweet oak. It is fairly plush on the palate and a touch softer in feel, and its relatively silky tannins allow its generous fruit to shine through even now. It might well grow for a decade or more, but it could become open enough to enjoy in but three to five years. | |||||
| Robert Parker 94 | |||||
| The full-bodied 2004 Pritchard Hill Estate Proprietary Red (78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petit Verdot, and 8% Merlot) boasts a sensational inky/ruby/purple color to the rim as well as broad, rich, creme de cassis, licorice, graphite, and spice-like flavors, and a tannic finish. While approachable, it will benefit from several years of bottle age, and should age gracefully for two decades. | |||||
2005 Forman California (750ml) |
$72.00
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| Robert Parker 93 | |||||
| The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (about 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, with a pretty hefty percentage of Cabernet Franc and the rest Petit Verdot) is deep ruby/purple, beautifully Bordeaux-like, but from a ripe year with its notes of charcoal, creme de cassis, cedar, and spice box. There is even a touch of lead pencil shavings in the taste of the wine. It has terrific freshness, medium to full body, and the ability to age well for at least 20-25+ years. | |||||
| Steve Tanzer's International Wine Cellar 91+ | |||||
| Good moderately saturated red-ruby. Very pretty aromas of raspberry, currant and violet, along with some smoky oak. Juicy, fruity and minerally; in a more vertical, less fleshy style than the young 2006, but showing lovely precision of fruit for a wine that's still youthfully tight. Today the tannins are a bit obtrusive and the wine's sweetness and volume are still hidden, but its firm spine suggests that this will reward five to seven years of cellaring. In fact, noted Forman, the berries were larger in 2005 and couldn't stay on the vine as long as they were getting shriveled. "They gave an atypically Beaujolais-like fruitiness and we got less tannic extraction," he said. Long-time fans of this classy wine will be interested to know that Forman recently did a major vertical tasting of his cabernet and reported that the standouts were the '83, the '96 and a particularly Bordeaux-like '87. | |||||