2019 Cardinale Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Immerse yourself in the story of the 2019 Cardinale Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Born from eight appellations, eleven vineyards, and 32 individual wine lots, it's a rich tapestry of flavors. With primary fruit, rose petal, cedar, espresso bean, and pain grillé, this vintage offers a compelling savory aspect, framing the intense, dark fruit of the mountains. Experience the joy of blending in every glass.
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.
Jeb Dunnuck
Pure, classic California notes of crème de cassis, spicy oak, chalky minerality, graphite, and spring flowers emerge from the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot that's sourced from multiple mountain AVAs in the valley. Full-bodied and powerful on the palate, it has a deep, rich mid-palate, beautiful tannins, notable acidity, and a great, great finish. It's another brilliant wine from Carpenter that can offer pleasure today yet also evolve for 20-25 years or more.
James Suckling
So much crushed lead pencil, tile and dried flowers, together with blackberries and brambleberries. Full-bodied with round, polished tannins. Layered and so delicious. Black olives and graphite at the end. This potpourri of Napa cabernet character takes your palate on a tour of so many of the regions, including all the mountains, such as Howell, Veeder and Spring Mountain, as well as Atlas Peak, Stags Leap, Yountville and St. Helena. Precision and polish to the wine. Drinkable now, but better to hold.
Vinous
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the most finessed wines I have ever tasted here. That seems to be the direction Chris Carpenter is pursuing of late. So more than a vintage or place (Cardinale is a blend of hillside and valley floor sites) what comes through is the wine's finesse. Floral overtones lift a core of red cherry fruit, pomegranate and blood orange. I imagine the 2019 will enjoy a long life based on its spectacular balance.
Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cardinale is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot, with the Merlot from a particular block on Howell Mountain. Overall, it's about 80% mountain fruit and 20% valley-floor fruit, according to winemaker Chris Carpenter. Cherries and cassis dominate the nose, while the full-bodied palate is rich and velvety, with a long, mouthwatering finish that adds barrel-derived notes of vanilla, powdered sugar and cedar.
Wine Spectator
An inviting, fruit-driven style, with a gorgeous display of plum puree and blackberry confiture pumping along, flanked with licorice and apple wood and kept honest with a loamy accent through the finish. Polished in feel overall, but that belies the serious grip. Drink now through 2036.