The label states the wine’s alcohol at 14.9%, which can sometimes be a tipoff that the potency is much higher than that. Yet, with a Cabernet Sauvignon as balanced and nuanced as this one, it makes no matter what the actual alcohol is. The wine is ripe and intense in cassis and black cherry fruit, and generous in spicy oak. However, it is remarkably balanced and sports the structured tannins and acidity to make it cellar-able for another 10 years or more.
Rocca Family Vineyards, Yountville (Napa Valley, California) Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
By Linda Murphy