2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
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Tasting notes
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate has only recently started to open after a long period of dormancy. It’s classic Togni all the way: dark, intensely savory and built to age. Once a brute, today the 2014 is all understatement, all class. Sage, mint, graphite, dried flowers, blood orange and mocha weave through a core of dark-toned fruit. Despite drought conditions, yields were quite generous at three tons per acre.
Critic scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Togni's 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, tasted at the winery as the 10-year anniversary release, is just starting to show some maturity, with complex, compelling notes of earth, cassis, mocha, tobacco, cigar box and vanilla. It's medium to full-bodied, somehow both firm and silky in feel, with a ripe, lingering finish. Looking back at Robert Parker's notes from its release, it's fascinating to see that he rated this wine 94+ and considered it "one of his [Togni's] more forward and precociously styled Cabernets."
The 2014 Togni Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is the most clenched wine of the evening. It has always been a bit stern, but on this night the 2014 is especially reticent. I admire the energy and persistence, but the wine’s best days are clearly in the future. Readers should plan on cellaring the 2014. It’s a wine very much in the mold of Togni’s other slow-maturing vintages. Time in the glass brings out all sorts of minerally and savory undertones, and yet the 2014 is only showing a fraction of its potential today.
The flagship cuvee is the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate and it comes from the estate vineyard on Spring Mountain and is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It's a deeper, richer wine than the Tanbark Hill release and offers terrific creme de cassis, tobacco leaf, cedarwood and incense aromas and flavors. Ripe, medium to full-bodied, concentrated and yet elegant, it shows the hallmark purity of the vintage, has ripe tannin and impeccable balance. It's approachable today yet really needs 5-6 years of cellaring to show its potential and will keep for two decades or more.
About the producer
Perched at nearly 2,000 feet atop Spring Mountain, Philip Togni Vineyard is one of Napa Valley’s most revered small, family-run wineries. Established in the early 1980s by legendary winemaker Philip Togni, the estate has earned consistent critical acclaim for its age-worthy, Bordeaux-style blends.