Winery - D.R. Stephens
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This Cabernet possesses that elusive quality variously called finesse or elegance. Even though it’s a big wine, filled with blackberry, cassis, dark chocolate and oak flavors, and the tannins are firm, it feels like pure velvet, showing pedigree all the way through the long finish. An impressive wine to drink now, but it should gain traction over the next decade. Production was 615 cases.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A big improvement over the 2007, Stephens’ ’08 is rich and ripe. It brims with pineapple, buttered toast, vanilla and cinnamon flavors, brightened with crisp acidity. Easy to drink, and delicious through the finish.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Too young for drinking now, or anytime soon for that matter. It’s all primary blackberry and currant fruit, new oak and tannins. But there’s a dramatic quality to the structure, a purity of parts that suggests the cellar. There are waves of licorice, mocha and buttered cinnamon toast, with everything vying for supremacy. Let all the elements battle it out for a good six years. This wine should age gracefully through 2015, at least.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A solid, good Cabernet, with very ripe, extracted blackberry, blueberry and chocolate flavors, wrapped into firm tannins. It’s a little forward and obvious now, and will take a few years of cellaring.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Napa Cab doesn’t get riper or more delicious than this. It floods the mouth with blackberry purée, cherry pie filling, milk chocolate, vanilla fudge and smoky oak flavors. Yet the wine lacks balancing structure. The palate longs for acidity and tannins to counter all that richness.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A bit herbal, earthy and heavy. Shows some tropical citrus fruit notes, and plenty of oak influence, but is lacking in richness and structural integrity, especially at this price.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
There’s a beautiful wine in here, but it’s buried under so much oak, it’s hard to find. Vanilla, char, buttered toast and woody aromas and flavors dominate and contribute to the tannins. The underlying Cabernet seems quite lovely, and it’s an elegant, refined wine for drinking now. You have to wonder, though, why they plastered it under so much new oak.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The new oak sticks out like a sore thumb, dominating this young wine with vanilla, buttered toast and charred wood aromas and flavors. Fortunately, the underlying wine also is very powerful in ripe blackberry and cherry fruit. This is an elegant, strong, impressive Cabernet, but the oak should be reined in to allow the beautiful fruit to star.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
From St. Helena. Ultrasoft and ultraripe in the modern style, a cassis and chocolate- flavored wine marked by melted tannins and a soft texture. The wine is voluptuous and very good, but would benefit from better structure.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Stylish and plump, a delicious Cab with polished flavors of red stone fruits and berries, and a sweet veneer of toasty oak. Well-balanced, this charmer finishes with complexity.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
