Winery - Dominus
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is the first release of Napanook, the second wine from Dominus. It has lovely, approachable fruit in the red-cherry, red-plum spectrum; the finish is medium length and silky. It’s tasting very good now, and should improve in bottle over the next three to five years. The blend is 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc and 13% Petit Verdot.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Opens with herbal aromas of sage, dill and tobacco, with a vanilla, oaky note, so it’s surprising how rich it drinks. Sweet cassis is on the palate, framed in soft but intricate tannins. The wine is young and needs decanting or mid-term aging.
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Dominus Red Blend - 1999
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
It’s tempting to think of Napanook as a second wine of Dominus, but this Cabernet-based Bordeaux blend has been trying to stand on its own. It doesn’t always succeed, but the ’06 represents a step forward, and is the best release since 2003. Dry and well-structured, it offers complex flavors of black currants and sweet grilled oak. Good now and beyond 2012.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Easily the greatest Dominus in memory. Comes down on the drier, lower alcohol and less ripe side than many Cabs in its league, yet lacks for nothing in complexity and sheer deliciousness. Tantalizes with blackberry tart, cherry, carob bean and a Pinot Noir-esque cola-rhubarb richness that retreats behind rich tannins and an earthiness suggesting sweet blond tobacco and dried sage. Clearly ageable, it will develop bottle complexity over the next 12 years, at least. It’s 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, with a few drops of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A very nice Cabernet-based wine from Dominus, the ’05 Napanook is a shade less elegant than in the last few vintages, but is still a lush, attractive young wine. Filled with the flavors of ripe blackberries, black currants, tar, chocolate, cedar and pepper, its tannins are hard and a little astringent. Give it a few years or serious decanting.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
As good as the 2001 Napanook is, this wine is more intense. The fruit is lusher, the oak newer, the control more complete, but the kicker is the tannins. They’re powerful and dusty, and conceal the flamboyance, for now. Needs time; hold until 2010 and beyond.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
With grapes from Yountville, this Bordeaux blend, which is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, has a very fine structure. It’s firm in tannins and acidity, with a bracing minerality. The flavors are already quite advanced, suggesting jammy cherries, blackberries and cassis. Drink now for sheer deliciousness, after decanting.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This isn’t the Dominus, but a sort of junior to it. Rich and thick, with ripe blackberry and mocha flavors generously accented with oak. Lush and smooth, it’s really a complete Napa Cabernet. Even at this price, when you compare it to so many other expensive, ho-hum Cabs, it’s a value.
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Dominus Red Blend - 1999
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Deep berry, cinnamon, briar and mint aromas. Firm, even backwards, it is trim and elegant, yet solid. Black fruit and bitter-chocolate flavors abound. The finish is especially tight, with dry tannins and complex mineral and earth elements. Huge but refined, the quintessential iron fist in a velvet glove; it needs time.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Aromas almost of blackberry syrup, with herb, toast and earthy, even barnyardy accents open this rich yet tart cherry-chocolate wine. Smooth and unevolved, with chocolate and orange-peel notes on the austere finish. It’s the baby brother of Dominus, offering a look at the style of the estate without the price tag of the flagship offering.
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