This vintage has excellent potential. I feel that it shows strong similarities to 1986, in which we enjoyed delicious, fully mature fruit without excess sugar, and with good acidity. We could not have ordered better weather in 2005: when we needed a little heat, it warmed up; when we needed a little less heat, it cooled down. And in a vintage when many wineries might have had to shut down for lack of tank space, we never did. Our ability to maintain our balance during the compressed and hectic harvest resulted in a finely balanced wine which, after all, is what really matters.
In the glass, our 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet shows a deep, dense, black ruby color. It offers complex aromatics of berry, cedar, licorice, and classic Cabernet which, combined with its rich, underlying fruit concentration, should please the most discriminating wine lover. In the mouth it is wonderfully smooth, full-bodied and balanced, with attractive berry and spice notes, along with rich, fine grained Cabernet tannins. Tasty today, this wine is built in the traditional Montelena style, so that it will also definitely develop nicely with a few years of cellar time.
- Bo Barrett, Winemaker |
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