2011 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Menthol and blackcurrant juice. The oak spice is not very well integrated and it has a simple fruit character, though plenty of persistence. (RH)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is a stunner that comes from one of the more difficult vintages in the last decade. It has remarkable purity in its black and blue fruits, graphite, smoked herbs and licorice-scented aromas and flavors, and this beauty hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a great texture and sweet, slightly rustic tannin. Drink it anytime over the coming decade. The blend here is 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot that saw 26 months new French oak.
(14.5% alcohol): Bright, saturated red-ruby. Cassis, lead pencil and dark chocolate on the expressive nose, along with fresh herbs and sexy caramel/mocha oak. Plush and sweet but not sloppy in the mouth, with soft, harmonious acidity giving shape to the dark berry and sweet oak flavors. Finishes with serious, dusty, tongue-coating tannins that turned a bit drier with air. Still, I find this accessible now.
Dark crimson. Lively and with real spine, acidity and attack. Very dry finish. May well calm down and fill out but I have marked it according to its rather ungenerous presentation today. (JR)