2015 Cardinale Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Cardinale’s Cabernet Sauvignon is unique in the valley because it is blended almost entirely from fruit from each mountain appellation: Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain, Howell Mountain, and Diamond Mountain. High above 1,500 feet in elevation, the grapevines struggle to ripen and form small, intensely flavored, thick-skinned berries.
Master winemaker Chris Carpenter blends this wine each year expertly, optimizing the wine’s harmony of acidity, structure, alcohol, fruit, and soil elements, in a way that simply can’t be done in a single vineyard. This is the key to this wine’s greatness and uniqueness, and the kind of selectivity practiced in the Bordeaux first-growths.
The Wine Advocate loved its “beautiful red, black and blue fruit notes with touches of dried herbs, spice cake and unsmoked cigars, plus a waft of cedar. Medium to full-bodied, it has a firm structure with plenty of gregarious mid-palate fruit, finishing with a lingering herbal lift. This seductive blockbuster is temptingly drinkable now and it should age gracefully over 15-20 years.”
With only five cases to offer, this would be such a smart addition to your cellar – it will age 20-30 years and make it look easy.
Cardinale's Cabernet Sauvignon is unique in the valley because it is blended almost entirely from fruit from each mountain appellation: Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain, Howell Mountain, and Diamond Mountain. High above 1,500 feet in elevation, the grapevines struggle to ripen and form small, intensely flavored, thick-skinned berries. Master winemaker Chris Carpenter blends this wine each year expertly, optimizing the wine’s harmony of acidity, structure, alcohol, fruit, and soil elements, in a way that simply can’t be done in a single vineyard. This is the key to this wine’s greatness and uniqueness, and the kind of selectivity practiced in the Bordeaux first-growths.
Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Cardinale Cabernet Sauvignon (containing 10% Merlot) gives beautiful red, black and blue fruit notes with touches of dried herbs, spice cake and unsmoked cigars, plus a waft of cedar. Medium to full-bodied, it has a firm structure with plenty of gregarious mid-palate fruit, finishing with a lingering herbal lift.