2001 Sloan Proprietary Red
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Tasting notes
The 2001 Sloan is a brooding powerhouse. Dark, inky and super-concentrated, the 2001 possesses tremendous textural richness from start to finish. Blackberry jam, licorice, cloves, new leather, mocha and French oak all build in the glass. The 2001 is still quite fresh and deep, but it is also heading into its plateau of maturity. All that said, the 2001 has aged well, although it is very much a wine of its era, with huge fruit and equally heavy torrefaction flavors from the oak. Beyond that, there isn't much else to say except that the 2001 is in a great spot for drinking right now. It is very clearly one of the wines of the vintage. This was Martha McClellan's first vintage at Sloan. Mark Aubert made the 2000 and then departed in July of the following year.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Full red-ruby color. Slightly roasted aromas of meat, oyster sauce, leather, cinders and burnished oak, with some dark fruits lurking. Hugely rich and sweet on the palate, but a bit unrestrained, even heavy, in the context of the vintage. The wine's creamy dark-fruit sweetness is given shape at the end by huge, chocolatey, palate-saturating tannins. Quite large-scaled for 2001, this very ripe Cabernet finishes quite long but I wanted a bit more primary fruit character, definition and verve, not to mention treble tones. I would drink this fairly soon before it loses its remaining energy. I found this wine much more classic and claret-like in the early going but today it's a big boy.
About the producer
Sloan’s 13-acre estate vineyard, composed of mineral-rich, fractured volcanic rock and sandy loam, is located high in the eastern hills of Rutherford. Their inaugural vintage was 2000 and since it has grown a tremendous cult following for those lucky enough to get their hands on a few bottles.