2017 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
Tasting Notes: Rich nose of cherry, plum, hints of cassis, espresso, and rubbed thyme. This is all Red Mountain on the palate, with full, structured dark cherry reduction, black currant, graphite, and crushed roses. While it’s not the biggest Red Mountain Cabernet yet, it may be the most balanced. The concentration and structure here indicate a wine that will age for decades, but give it 3-5 years to start.
Blend: 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc
Vineyards: 60% Klipsun Cabernet, 37% Red Mountain Vineyard, Cabernet 3% Bacchus Cabernet Franc
Aging: 80% New French Oak
95+ Points - Jeb Dunnuck
More minerality as well as notes of black raspberries, cassis, toasted spice, graphite, and scorched earth emerge. This rich, structured yet beautifully balanced Red Mountain Cabernet is full-bodied, beautifully balanced, and long. Give this super-intense, pure, structured 2017 3-4 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 20 years or more. (4/15/20)
94 Points - Wine Advocate
This wine has a rich black-fruited core on the finessed nose, with
a wet minerality and dried red orals. The full-bodied palate turns a touch tarter, with the fruit set moving from blackberries to black raspberries with a dusty minerality. The wine has a tight grip and lingers on the finish with good focus and balance. The 2017 vintage is showing really well, and it is a safe bet to add this to your cellar. (Anthony Mueller 12/30/19)
93+ Points - Vinous
Dark red-ruby. Highly nuanced aromas of cassis, licorice, cocoa powder and licorice, plus a whiff of barbecue sauce. Plush, savory wine with restrained sweetness but terrific generosity in the mouth. Dark fruit flavors are complicated by notes of espresso and licorice. Finishes with a serious dusting of noble tannins and lingering sweetness. This wine calls for a juicy ribeye steak--or, better yet, lay it down. (Stephan Tanzer 12/19)
93 Points (Cellar Selection) - Wine Enthusiast
Beguiling but brooding aromas of coffee, flower, butter, spice, cherry and dried herb are followed by bountiful, penetrating, wound up fruit flavors, with a wall of tannins and acidity backing it up. There’s a whole lot of stuffing in this wine. It’s the least accessible of the 2017 releases and will require the most time to be appreciated. But there’s plenty to appreciate. It also has the most upside. Best after 2028 with a good decade-plus of life beyond that. (Sean Sullivan June 2020)
