This is winemaker Matt Crafton’s first vintage at Montelena from harvest to bottle and it bodes well for the future. This vintage delivers ripe aromas of blackberry and cassis, subtle hints of wood spice and notes of cedar and graphite that are generally markers in exceptional Cabernet. Well balanced and richly layered, it’s a keeper that should improve in the cellar over the next ten years.
Chateau Montelena, Calistoga (Napa Valley, California) Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
By Robert Whitley