Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Old school. Balanced tannins and fruit. Really great.

Dark red purple. Classic Cabernet nose and palate of cassis and underripe blackberry with oak and very gentle bell pepper undertones. Medium tannins and medium plus-ish acidity. Old school style Napa Cabernet with an excellent balance between fruit and structure. Excellent match for that porterhouse. Drink now through 2032.

Presented to me double-blind at Tasting Group. The wine pours a deep ruby color with a somewhat translucent (fine sediment), near opaque core fading out to a garnet with a slightly watery rim. Medium+ viscosity with pretty significant staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of plums, cassis, dark cherries tobacco, some leather, some faint pyrazines, dried purple flowers, clay-like earth and fine baking spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and luxurious with soft and attractive texture. Initial conclusions is this could be a Merlot, or Bordeaux-based blend from France, USA or Italy but since I seem to get more non-fruit characteristics, I’m calling this a Merlot-based blend from France, Bordeaux, Right-bank, St. Émilion, 2000 vintage. Whoa! 2005 Togni! Dang…this baby has some real Bordeaux sensibilities. Delicious stuff that is drinking very well right now. Apparently, this bottle had been opened the night before so it had plenty of time to breathe. I would expect well cellared examples should drink well through 2035.

Togni's 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon is monumental, and very clearly also one of the wines of the vintage. Dark, layered and deep, the 2001 captures all the best qualities of 2001 and then blows them through the roof. Several recent bottles have all shown tremendous fruit density, captivating aromatics and breathtaking balance. My only regret is not owning more than a bottle or two. Magnificent. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, April 2023)

2022 Independence Day Party 🇺🇲 with several members of our Tastevin crew and extended friends.🍷 Proof that our palates are wider than Burgundy. Notes may be light, scores will be honest.

750ml

From magnum. Happy New Year with tasting group. Green olives. Nice bottle development. Hard.

Incredible! Napa Cab at its finest! Marked blue fruit, firm dark tannin, great length. Supple.

Full, bright ruby-red! Pure and complex if subdued on the nose, offering scents of plum, briary dark berries, spice cake and dark chocolate. Densely packed, fine-grained and concentrated, conveying a lovely restrained sweetness and excellent depth of texture. No rough edges here in spite of the wine's seriously firm structure. Intense, sharply delineated mountain berry flavors convey a medicinal reserve, a distinctly savory quality and lovely juicy energy. This Cabernet is still a bit ungiving but its acid backbone and firm but harmonious tannins promise more positive evolution ahead. An excellent showing for this palate-staining wine, which will be long-lived and may yet gain in breadth. (Stephen Tanzer, Vinous, June 2020)

Amaze balls. So young, still piney and cherry tart. Then expansive and ripe.

Plenty of aging potential here....