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Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Château Montelena, Napa Valley, United States

Château Montelena
Napa Valley United States
  • 0
    Points
  • The 2 132 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 1 Pros of
    1 recommend
    this wine
62 0
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    552

  • Producer ranking ?

    34

  • Decanting time

    -

  • When to drink

    Now

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The Story

The wines here at Chateau Montelena are often described as having classic “old-world” structure with ripe California fruit, and it is in years like 2010 that this really shines through. What that means is that these wines tend to have more acid, lower pH, and more moderate alcohol levels as compared to some of the flashy “modern” Cabs. This classic chemistry allows them to pair very well with a wide variety of dishes and sets them up for grace...

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

As winemaker Cameron Parry states, “I sure wish we had more of this one!” The Napa Cabernet vineyards had very low yields in 2008, but the resulting small crop delivered incredibly concentrated flavors and fantastic ripeness. After the heat during bloom in May, the growing season was generally mild. The heat returned in August and early September and pushed the ripeness up in a hurry; but thankfully cooler weather followed, which allowed for picking at optimal maturity and provided a nice even pace for harvest. Overall, Chateau Montelena like a number of producers in Napa Valley, had a spectacular 2008 vintage.

Beginning with this vintage, Chateau Montelena began to modify their winemaking philosophy by selectively picking smaller sections of the vineyards at a time to ensure more optimal and uniform ripeness of the grapes going into tanks. The smaller vineyard yields this harvest were a blessing because Montelena was never crunched for space in the winery, which allowed them the freedom to pick many smaller lots over the course of the harvest. In addition to this philosophical shift, Montelena also made a few changes to their fermentation practices that have resulted in better extraction, color stability, and oak integration. The results are in your glass. 

The deep garnet color of this wine hints at the big extraction and dark flavors to follow. Very rich aromas of pipe tobacco, chocolate and caramel beautifully complement the black currant and ripe black cherry fruit. The palate opens soft but builds big and fast, showing a great acid backbone, moderate weight tannins, and a mouthfeel that is full but not heavy or overwhelming. Rich, ripe, sweet black cherry dominates the fruit and is nicely complemented with plum and red berry high tones. Barrel spice is prominent on the finish. 

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Origin

Calistoga, Napa Valley
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