2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
(16.1% alcohol): Dark red-ruby. Aromas of plum, licorice, minerals and wild herbs, plus a whiff of spun sugar. In a distinctly plush, creamy-sweet style, conveying an opulent dried-fruit character complicated by a faint leathery quality. Not the last word in complexity but finishes with very smooth tannins and excellent length. This wine is carrying just 1.2 grams per liter of residual sugar but tastes sweeter than that. Not a classic style for this bottling, and certainly ready to drink.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
This has lots of spices, dark fruits, and hints of coffee. Full-bodied, with firm tannins. Wonderful purity of fruit and flowers. This has it all there.
Bright ruby. Pungent aromas of candied raspberry, licorice, espresso and graphite, with a hint of meat. Sweet, broad and voluptuous; lush, large-scaled and glyceral for the vintage. This compellingly creamy, seamless wine shows an almost confectionery quality to its raspberry and chocolate flavors. Finishes with utterly silky tannins and outstanding length.
The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (794 cases) shows more chocolate, roasted espresso, blueberry and blackberry characteristics in addition to more concentration and depth than I noticed last year and a big, powerful, glycerin-imbued, heady finish. It should drink well for 15 years. One of Napa Valley’s most beautiful vineyards is Don Bryant’s vineyard high on Pritchard Hill, just below Colgin and Tim Mondavi’s Continuum and not far from such other benchmark properties as Chappellet, Del Dotto and David Arthur. These are all 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, but the production rarely passes 1,000 cases, even in the most abundant vintages. Don Bryant told me he is also launching a second wine called DB Four but I did not taste it. Tel. (707) 963-0483; Fax (707) 963-0482
About the producer
Founded by Don Bryant in 1986, Bryant Estate is built around a 13-acre vineyard rising from 900 to 1,200 feet on Pritchard Hill. Now led by Bettina Bryant, its acclaimed Bryant Family Vineyard is regarded as one of Napa Valley’s benchmark Cabernet Sauvignons.