2005 Staglin Family Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
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Tasting notes
86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, aged 22 months in French oak (95% new). Founded in 1985, the estate in Rutherford Bench is still owned and managed by the Staglin Family. Some garnet fade at the rim. A little sour and earthy on the nose, dried fruit and smoke. The palate is mature and soft in the middle, but lacking a little in vibrancy. The finish is a little drying and lacking in fruit. (TP)
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Decanted. Nice freshness on the nose. Really very pleasing and beautifully balanced. Just perfect now. A tiny hint of heat on the end. Some minerals and interest. Good stuff! And not at all on the way down. (JR)
(14.8% alcohol): Healthy medium ruby. Musky, very ripe aromas of raspberry, redcurrant, mocha, dried flowers and Rutherford dust come across as rather evolved. Fat, plush and sweet, showing exotic oak tones to its slightly warm flavors of redcurrant, tobacco and spices. Not a particularly refined style. Finishes with broad, building tannins and a bit of heat.
From the beautiful benchland vineyard in Rutherford, the vines for this wine were first planted in 1964 and 1965. under the consulting work of one of the most iconic and historic names in Napa Valley – André Tchelistcheff. More recently, the vineyard is managed by the super-viticulturalist David Abreu, and the wines have been made under the consulting brilliance of world-famous Michel Rolland ever since he first started consulting in 1999. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is fresh and beautifully pure, with notes of blackcurrants and spice, a luscious, open and opulent texture, sweet tannin, and copious quantities of floral-infused blackcurrant fruit gently touched by new oak. Look for its lofty, heady alcohol (14.8%). It is elegant, pure and fresh. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.