2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
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Tasting notes
(14.5% alcohol): Bright medium ruby. Highly complex aromas and flavors of cassis, blackberry, violet, truffle and licorice, with complicating hints of mocha, iron and game. Plush, fine-grained and sweet; a wonderfully showy wine with a pliant texture and excellent depth. This smooth, ripe wine has the spine of acidity and tannins to age gracefully. Finishes sweet and long, with velvety tannins spreading out to saturate the entire mouth.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon emerges from the red soils of the eastern foothills of Oakville. The wine has gorgeously pure blackberry and cassis fruit with a touch of underlying earth and spice box, medium to full-bodied flavors, and seamless integration of acidity, wood, alcohol and tannin. Once again, it provides a gorgeous freshness, precision and stunning youthfulness, despite being ten years of age.
Bright ruby-red. Wonderfully scented nose offers cassis, camphor, minerals, cocoa powder, licorice and rose petal. Juicy, spicy and pure, with terrific definition and cut to the flavors of currant, cherry and minerals. Finishes with firm tannic spine and lingering notes of spice and flowers. Comes across as sweeter but less deep than the 2005 Maya, which is less open to inspection today.
About the producer
Dalla Valle Vineyards was founded in 1986 by Naoko and her late husband Gustav Dalla Valle, in Oakville. Initially they had wanted to create a luxury resort, but when they discovered the potential of the site, they changed tack and decided to make wine.